Here's A Hand To Hold On To
by StateOfLoki
Summary: After being accepted into the illustrious Camelot Private, Merlin's whole life changes. He finds himself strangely drawn to the school golden boy, football legend and insanely hot, Arthur Pendragon, who's biggest secret Merlin accidentally discovers. The only problem is, he seems to care more for his image than his heart and that's not a risk Merlin's willing to take.
1. Don't Let Me Fall

_**Hi! So, this is my first Merlin fanfic! I'm excited to see how it will go. I love Merthur! They are one of my OTP's and I will ship them forever. I really hope I've done them justice. Please review, send me feedback, tell me you're enjoying it so far, tell me what you think of the beginning of season 5, which I think is simply amazing :) **_

_**I will most likely update once a week. **_

_**So, let's begin this journey shall we?**_

_**Thank you for reading it.**_

_**Isadora. (I shall use my penname because I like that name)**_

**AGE SEVEN**

_A small raven haired boy, called Merlin, clutched his mother's hand tightly as she led him to the playground, towards the big yellow slide he was so frightened of. _

"_Come on sweetheart. You can do it, you don't have to be frightened," Hunith said kindly. _

"_Mummy, it's so big, and scary, do I have to do it?" Merlin asked in a small voice, staring up at her with those innocent big blue eyes. _

"_Well, you don't have to do it, but what have I always taught you?" Hunith asked. _

"_That the only way to defeat fear is to show it what a brave boy I am, like in the book," Merlin muttered anxiously. _

"_Yes, exactly like in the book. Now you jumped into the pool didn't you? Even when you were terrified? Hunith added. _

"_That wasn't even scary!" Merlin replied proudly, puffing out his chest. _

"_I know, so, the slide won't be scary either. Now, I'm going to go sit at the bench, over there, and keep an eye on you, alright?" Hunith smiled. _

"_Yes Mummy, I'm going to make you so proud!" Merlin said. _

"_There's some other kids over there," Hunith pointed out, "See the blonde boy and the dark haired girl? They look about your age, why don't you go and say hi?" _

"_I dunno, they might not want to talk to me," Merlin said. _

"_Of course they will, sweetheart, why don't you ask if they want to go on the slide too?" Hunith responded, gently brushing Merlin's soft raven hair with her fingers. _

_Then she pecked him on the cheek and wandered over to the park bench. Merlin approached the two other children who seemed to be in a huge fight, the blonde boy was tugging at the other girl's long dark hair, and she was retaliating by stomping on his feet. _

_He smiled hesitantly at them; their fighting seeming to stop as they noticed his presence. _

"_Hi, I'm Merlin," He said in the politest voice he could muster. _

"_Merlin, what a stupid name," The blonde boy scoffed. _

"_Shut up Arthur," The girl hissed, elbowing his ribs. "Hi Merlin, I'm Morgana, and this is Arthur. He's a bit of an idiot you see, so I wouldn't pay much attention to what he says. I think Merlin is a cool name." _

"_That's okay and I think that Morgana is a cool name too! Do you want to play?" Merlin asked, he didn't really like Arthur, he seemed mean. But Morgana seemed really nice. _

"_Fine but we're playing Knights and Princesses. That's MY favourite game. Morgana is the Princess. You can be the evil wizard who kidnaps her, Merlin. I'M the royal prince, of course." Arthur said pompously and sauntered off to pick up a stick of wood near the bushes. _

"_Royal Prince, more like royal prat," Merlin whispered to Morgana, and they both collapsed into silent giggles. _

_And so the game began, Merlin and Morgana quickly scampered up the tall ladder onto the high base they called the 'tower' it was one with the big yellow slide. Merlin glanced at it nervously. Arthur was climbing up. _

"_Let the fair lady go, evil sorcerer," Arthur called out in a ridiculously deep voice that made Merlin and Morgana stare at each other and burst into a fit of laughter. _

"_OI, why are you two laughing? You need to take the game seriously!" Arthur huffed. _

"_Sorry!" Merlin yelled back. _

"_Rescue me! Rescue me!" Morgana called out meekly. She looked down and glanced at Arthur, rolling her eyes. _

"_You come up here, and I will turn the Princess into a toad!" Merlin said, attempting a menacing voice. _

"_Oh no!" said Morgana. _

_Arthur clung on tightly to the yellow plastic of the slide while brandishing a wooden stick at Merlin. _

"_I will rescue you, princess, don't worry. You harm her and I will make sure my dogs eat you for their dinner." Arthur growled. _

"_We don't have dogs." Morgana raised her eyebrows. Then clapped a hand over her mouth. _

"_Sorry Arthur!" She added at her brother's increasing irritation. _

_Merlin screamed a little as Arthur suddenly reached the top, his blonde head popped up and he smirked at Merlin's mildly shocked face. _

_Arthur heaved himself up onto the barrier and reached out his hand to Morgana. _

"_This is stupid." She exclaimed. "If I got stolen by some evil wizard then I would beat them up so hard that they would be scared of me. I wouldn't need someone to rescue me. Especially not you." _

_And then she seated herself on the slide and quickly pushed herself until she was zooming down. _

"_Let's play something else!" Morgana shouted from the ground. _

"_I'm so angry!" Arthur said furiously. "She ALWAYS does this." _

"_Well maybe we should all play something that we all like." Merlin suggested. _

"_No, we should all play something that I like." Arthur corrected. _

"_You are such a prat!" Merlin said, annoyed at the other boy. _

"_You swore! I'm telling your mum! Besides, my ideas are always the best ones." Arthur said smugly. _

"_ARE YOU TWO GOING TO COME DOWN OR WHAT?" Morgana shouted again. _

"_Hurry up!" Arthur said, pointing at the slide, as the other boy was in front of him. _

"_I can't- I'm going down the ladder, the slide's too big." Merlin said quietly. _

"_You're a wimpy scaredy-cat." Arthur said nastily. _

_Merlin felt the tears rise up in his eyes and he looked away. Why was Arthur was being so awful? He hadn't done anything to him. _

"_I'll help you go down?" Arthur offered guiltily. _

"_No-no, it's okay, I thought I could go down, but I can't now, it's too high," Merlin replied. _

"_Don't be such a girl." Arthur said. _

"_I HEARD THAT," Morgana yelled. _

"_Why don't you sit in front of me, and we'll go down together?" Arthur suggested. _

"_I don't know," Merlin began. "Okay," _

_Merlin sat worriedly on the edge of the slide. Arthur thrust his make believe sword, the wooden stick, into Merlin's clammy hands. _

"_Here hold this. Squeeze it if you get scared." Arthur said, unusually kindly. _

"_I feel sick." Merlin said. _

"_Oh shut up Merlin," Arthur laughed, and pushed off. _

_Merlin shut his eyes tightly, but opened them again as a light feeling in his stomach drowned out all the nervousness. The wind against his face and his heart hammering a little, he had to admit, it was certainly fun. He peeked open an eye and the joy was soon over, they had reached the end. _

"_See was that bad?" Arthur questioned and shrugged the other boy off him. _

"_No, it was really fun!" Merlin said breathlessly. _

"_I didn't know you could be nice, Arthur," Morgana grinned, bemused and shocked all at once. _

"_Shut up," Arthur retorted, hiding a smile. "Merlin, I want my sword back." _

_Merlin laughed and threw the wooden stick back to Arthur. _

"_How does hide and seek sound?" Morgana asked. _

"_Okay," said a grudging Arthur. _

"_Sounds good!" Merlin said happily. _

_He looked over to Hunith, who was grinning and gave him a thumb's up. Then returned back to her book. _

_And so for the rest of the afternoon, the three kids laughed and ran and hid and had so much fun that the amount of time passing was utterly forgettable. _

_Until an angry man, dressed in an expensive grey suit marched up to them. He glared at Arthur, and Morgana seemed to back away behind him. Merlin stared curiously at them. _

"_I have been worried sick looking for you! Anything could have happened. You two are being incredibly stupid. I've been searching around the whole of Camelot for hours." He said furiously. _

_Merlin glanced a little awkwardly at his orange and black sandals. And then suddenly, a warm hand pressed on his shoulder. It was Hunith, who had a determined expression on her face. _

"_Hi, what seems to be the problem here?" She asked the man. _

"_It really isn't your concern, Mrs?" The man said curtly. _

"_Emrys. But you may call me Hunith. What's wrong?" _

"_Hunith well, it's nothing, just that my kids seemed to run off from our home, but I've found them now. They're safe, that's all that matters." The man replied. _

_While the adults talked, Morgana glanced apologetically at Merlin. He smiled back and drifted away from the adult's conversation. _

"_Our parents were fighting, so we left the house to get away from it." Arthur explained silently. _

_Merlin nodded. _

"_Well that's it then," Hunith grinned at the man, who appeared to grin back. "It was, nice to meet you, Uther, I hope we see each other again, one day." _

_Merlin stared, confused. Why were they getting along now when they were seemingly angry before. Adults, he could never understand them. _

"_Thanks for keeping an eye on them," Uther said genuinely, "Say goodbye to this lovely young lad, kids," _

_Morgana flung her arms around him. _

"_Today was the best day EVER. Do you live here?" She asked. _

"_No, I live in Ealdor," Merlin said sadly. _

"_Speaking of, Merlin, darling, we're going to be late for the train back. Say goodbye quickly," Hunith interjected apologetically. _

"_I hope I see you again one day," Morgana said brightly, patting Merlin's shoulder. _

"_Bye Merlin." Arthur said. "You're not that bad." _

"_Bye Arthur, neither are you," Merlin giggled. _

"_Oh and have this." Arthur said. "In case you get scared, then it'll remind you that I'm there to give you a push," _

_He placed his prized wooden stick, sword, into Merlin's hand. _

**NINE YEARS LATER **

"Merlin, if you come back a tosser and snob, you're never gonna hear the end of it from me. I'm gonna do your head in, do you hear me?" Will barked into the phone. "And you better keep in touch. Prick."

"How sweet," Merlin said sarcastically. "Will, I'm not one of them, I'm never going to be, and yeah of course I'll keep in touch, you're my best mate, how can you even ask that?"

"Yeah yeah, you say that now, can't believe you're leaving me for 'Camelot Private'." Will scoffed.

"It's one of the best school's in Britain! You encouraged me to take the scholarship program entrance exam, you waited outside whilst I did it. You're telling me this now?" Merlin accused.

"You know I'm proud of you, really," Will reasoned.

"I know. I know, I'll message you tonight. The train station's almost here, I can see Gaius waiting for me. I'm gonna miss you," Merlin replied.

"I'm gonna miss you too, mate, and if you start seeing a bloke, you better tell me first, because they're gonna have to get through me. Tell Gaius I say hi, yeah?" Will said.

"Of course I will, anyway, chat later, bye!" Merlin responded hastily.

"Bye!" Will said half-heartedly.

Merlin hung up just as the train came to a halt. He slung his black duffel bag over his shoulder and slipped his phone into his jean pocket.

He shuffled through the crowd on the train, stepping out and walking to an uncrowded space. He scanned the area for Gaius, who rushed up to him and enveloped him in a great bear hug.

"Merlin, my boy, you've grown so much," Gaius beamed.

"Gaius, you saw me last week when I came up with all my cardboard boxes filled with stuff," Merlin replied embarrassedly.

"Oh you did too," Gaius said. "It seems every time I see you, you've grown taller."

"It seems every time I see you, you've grown older." Merlin retorted cheekily, earning a swift slap at the back of the head by Gaius.

Gaius's house was only a few blocks away from the train station. So they walked there.

It was a nice house, a two storied one, with a pretty little garden out the front and an intricately designed white gate. Well, Camelot was a nice town. Finding a rundown house would've been a rare occasion. But what did he know, he had only visited Camelot a couple of times. It took over four hours to drive there, and Gaius usually caught the Ealdor train to visit instead of vice versa.

Plus, it was a couple of minutes away from the main road, where Gaius's doctor's clinic was. And a walking distance from Camelot Private. Gaius had assured Merlin it only took ten to fifteen minutes to walk there. It was perfect for them both.

Gaius unlocked the door and shuffled in his coat pocket for something. He pulled out a small silver key and handed it to Merlin.

"Here, I had a spare cut for you," He commented before entering in and heading straight for the kitchen.

Merlin scurried behind him, dumping his duffel bag on the carpet as he followed.

"Cup of tea?" Gaius offered, swinging open cabinet doors and pulling out various jars.

"That would be great, thanks," Merlin replied happily, leaning against the kitchen counter.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, the TARDIS noise whirring loudly. He loved that message alert sound so much. He pulled it out, rolling his eyes at Will's text message.

_**Amy just asked me if I wanted to grab coffee with her tomorrow. Do u think it's a date or not? Do u think she knows I like her, fuck im so stressed. What do I do?**_

_**I don't know! **_Merlin typed back. _**Just go and there and find out. **_

Gaius thumped a steaming mug on the kitchen bench.

"What are we having for dinner tonight?" Merlin questioned.

"I was thinking of going to a place called the 'The Tavern' the food really is delightful, " Gaius sipped his tea.

"Oh yeah, Mum talks about that place all the time," Merlin laughed. "She's going to go crazy once she knows I've tried the food. Maybe I should tell her that I hate it just to see her reaction."

"Oh no, don't, trust me, just don't." Gaius said distractedly as he checked his watch.

"Don't worry, I won't, she's probably really stressed about her café already," Merlin couldn't help but worry about Hunith managing her little café all on her own.

"Merlin, my afternoon shift is going to start soon, it's almost one , I am terribly sorry to leave you alone but-." Gaius began.

"It's alright!" Merlin assured. "Just one thing before you go, what's the-."

"Wi-Fi password?" Gaius interrupted. "It's stuck on the yellow note on the fridge."

Gaius raised an eyebrow at Merlin's stunned expression.

"I'll be back at five, be sure to get settled in, get your stuff sorted, etcetera." Gaius added.

He darted out of the house, mumbling something about 'young people' under his breath.

After the door slammed, Merlin raced up the stairs to his new room and grabbed his laptop he had dropped off with his other things the previous week. Oh how he had missed it.

He raced downstairs again, switching it on and furiously typing away the password to access the Wi-Fi. He logged into YouTube, his music playlist ready to go and started blaring it at full blast as he marched, unashamed up the stairs.

He had so many things to organize. It was going to be a while.

He was a neat freak. It couldn't be helped.

The hours passed with Merlin singing at the top of his voice and shoving his shirts and pants on coat hangers. It passed with him whirling around the room and stacking his books on the shelves. It passed with him placing all his new textbooks and notebooks and pens and pencils on the desk. It passed with him tripping over numerous objects on the floor, including his own feet. But the one object he had stepped on that really bothered him was a brown stick of wood.

It was so silly keeping it, but a part of him refused to throw it away. He had named it his 'fear stick'. He could vaguely remember the kid who had given it to him. His arrogant attitude and mop of blonde hair. Oh and the kid's sister, who had said that 'Merlin was a cool name'. He just couldn't remember their names.

He brushed the memory off and continued with all the things he had to do.

And then it was all done. He was hot, he was sweaty and tired but it was done. He gathered all the cardboard boxes and dumped them outside his room, in the little hallway.

He collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily just as Gaius' voice echoed throughout the whole house.

"MERLIN, GET READY IT'S TIME FOR DINNER."

He checked the time on his iPod, it was nearly six. How had so much time passed so quickly? That was all that time seemed to be doing now days.

"COMING, GAIUS. JUST GIVE ME A SEC TO GET DRESSED." He yelled back.

He didn't really need to change his skinny jeans. So he just pulled on a long sleeved v neck and one of his favourite scarfs.

He patted his jean pocket but then suddenly remembered that he had left his phone on the kitchen table.

Merlin was greeted by Gaius's concerned expression at the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" Merlin asked, amused.

"Sorry I'm late, a patient had to be taken to the Hospital, I was closing down but they rushed in and were in a critical condition." Gaius replied.

"That's okay, hey, I got everything sorted. Proud of me?" Merlin joked, jogging to the kitchen to grab his phone, which was displaying six new messages.

They were probably all Will. He hid a smile as his suspicions were confirmed, most of them were an angry: **Merlin u better fkn reply. **

"Very." Gaius said firmly, interrupting his train of thought and ushering him out the door.

To his surprise, Gaius drove there, in his tiny red car. They pulled up in the nearest parking space on the main road which the restaurant was on. It had a red and yellow medieval theme going on. It was tastefully done too, it didn't look tacky in the slightest. Not to mention it smelt amazing.

He was taken aback by the interior, the whole place was pale gold and white. From the walls to the handles of the cutlery.

And on the tables were plates with painted golden lilies and swan napkins. It was surreal. And the nicest place he had ever been to.

"So, school starts tomorrow," Gaius pointed out.

"I know," Merlin responded. "I'm really nervous to be honest, I just, I don't want it to be a hard year, you know, I mean, getting called a fag and other… things in Ealdor. Getting beaten up that night. I still have nightmares about that. I don't want to go through that again. I can't. It's too hard. That's why I left."

"You're not going to because I won't let them. And neither will the school board, I mean to say, I have met many parents part of it when they come into the clinic. They themselves are gay, or their children are. Don't worry so much, and if it happens, you must let me know immediately. I won't let them lay a finger on you. Alright?" Gaius ranted.

"Alright." Merlin said uneasily as a waitress came to take their orders.

They promptly ordered their dinner, ravioli for Merlin and a soup for Gaius, along with garlic bread and some breadsticks. The waitress then placed two glasses on the table and a jug of iced water.

Merlin excused himself to go to the bathroom. He needed to pee urgently, a discovery he had only made when Gaius began pouring water into their glasses.

He rushed over to the male restroom and pushed open the door. Just to be greeted with loud moaning noises from one of the toilet cubicles.

Jesus fucking Christ. If they wanted a wank, they could at least have the courtesy to do it in private and not at a public place. The situation was unbelievably awkward.

And as if a place as nice as this would have literally two cubicles and no urinals.

It was just his luck as he began to approach the free toilet, the door to the occupied one flung open.

Merlin wanted to sink through the ground.

He was mortified and he honestly hated his pale skin sometimes, because he could feel himself going very red. Very bright red.

So he averted his eyes as a man wearing a waiter's uniform stumbled out, flushing in humiliation and embarrassment as staunched past Merlin to leave the room.

And then, just when he thought he was safe. Another person appeared.

But this one though, he was younger, and stared at Merlin in annoyance instead of embarrassment.

He scratched the back of his extremely tousled gorgeous blonde hair. Gorgeous? What the fuck was wrong with him for thinking that. But the way his tight white shirt clung onto that chest, his sparkling blue eyes that seemed to stare angrily at him. That light golden skin. There was no doubt that he was insanely attractive; he looked like a male model for Abercrombie & Fitch or something.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" He spat out rudely at Merlin who was rooted to the ground in shock.

There was something eerily familiar about the way he spoke. He couldn't place his finger on it, they'd probably never met before. Perhaps he was an actor, he'd seen him on telly. He certainly had the looks for it.

"Uhm, nothing, I'm so sor-sorry," Merlin blurted out, mentally banging his head against the wall. Repeatedly.

He rushed for the empty cubicle next to the one the male model look alike had been using.

He buried his head in his hands.

After the bathroom incident, yes, Merlin had already named it. He sauntered over to the table Gaius and him were sitting at.

"What took you so long?" Gaius asked.

Merlin shook his head at him and plonked down on the chair.

Gaius gave him one of his famous eyebrow raises and began chatting about art classes, he didn't really pay much attention as he had just noticed that the blonde-male-model-look-alike was sitting a couple of tables away from him. Merlin sagged a little in his chair, he could see the back of his perfect golden head clearly.

What really shocked him was that he was on a date. A pretty girl, wearing a deep purple that really complimented her dark skin tone. She leaned forward to kiss him on the lips. He began to twirl a lock of her dark hair.

He could not believe what he was seeing. He was clearly bi or gay.

Merlin began to suspect they had an open relationship but then it seemed less likely when Blondie rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a little jewellery bag. He handed it over to her, and she gasped in surprise as she rummaged through it, finding a silver chain. He doubted people held that kind of sentiment towards each other if they were just casual.

Merlin couldn't distinguish what the pendant hanging of the chain was. He didn't even know why he was so interested anyway.

"Merlin! Are you listening to me?" Gaius barked.

"Yes, sorry, Gaius! What were you saying?" Merlin replied apologetically.

"Doesn't matter. What's bothering you?" Gaius asked.

"See that blonde boy sitting over there? The one with the white shirt? Who is he?" Merlin answered.

Gaius twisted his head to get a better look.

"Oh, that's Arthur. It's Uther Pendragon's boy. Uther's, a lawyer, a great one too. Anyway, his wife passed a few years back, so he's widowed. Arthur's a great football player, around your age too- and going to the same school. But why are you so interested?" Gaius asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I think," Merlin said.

"He was just rude to me before, when I went to bathroom, " Merlin lied, well, it was the half-truth for what it was worth.

"Ignore him. Merlin, he can be arrogant at times but he's got a good heart," Gaius said truthfully.

"Yeah, I'm sure he does. But who's the girl?" Merlin questioned.

"Oh that's the lovely Gwen. She's very kind you know, and good for him. After his Mother died, you know, he was broken, she helped him mend himself. They've been together ever since. Since they were fourteen, I presume." Gaius smiled.

"Oh great." Merlin said under his breath.

Going back to school tomorrow seemed oddly interesting yet frightening somehow.

He was determined to find out more about this Arthur Pendragon bloke.


	2. I Watched It Begin Again

**Arthur**

It was the first day back at shitty school and Arthur was not in the mood to get into arguments, so when Morgana barged into his room and started screaming at him. He shoved her out and slammed the door in her face.

Arthur didn't even know why she was so pissy anyway. It's not like _she_ had the stress of school, and she still had a couple of weeks before her first year of uni began.

He wasn't even ready to go back. Stupid football, stupid schoolwork, stupid expectations. He just wanted to tell everything and everyone to fuck off.

And so the unavoidable before-school prep began.

He pulled up his socks and slipped on his uniform, which included an ironed white shirt, dark grey trousers, navy blue blazer and dark blue tie. He rubbed on some aftershave and spritzed some perfume. And after applying a tad of hair gel to get the desired messy-neat effect, he grabbed his stupidly heavy school bag and walked to the dining room.

"Good morning, son." Uther greeted him, sipping his coffee and flicking through the notes of his latest case.

"Good morning, Dad," Arthur replied, monotone as he grabbed an apple of the fruit bowl.

"Did you get enough rest?" Uther asked.

Arthur nodded just as Morgana stormed into the room.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." She snapped.

"What the-?" Arthur began.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Uther asked.

"What do you want?" Arthur nearly shouted at Morgana.

God she was so infuriating at times.

"Are. You. Kidding. Me?" Morgana gritted her teeth and left.

"I seriously don't know what I did," Arthur commented.

"Perhaps you should go after her," Uther suggested.

"I'm going to be late for school if I do, I'll talk to her later tonight." Arthur sighed.

"I'll see you later then, remember, I don't want to see your results dropping, we don't want last year to happen, do we?" Uther said.

"No, not at all." Arthur replied sarcastically.

He slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and stalked right out of the house.

It was a short walk to the school, roughly around five minutes, and Gwen usually joined him, as her house was a few doors down from his own.

He had caught her just in time; she walked happily towards him, the silver pendant he gave her contrasting against the dark blue of the school jumper.

She looked pretty as ever, gazing at him earnestly, flicking a strand of her curly black hair behind her ear.

"Arthur," she beamed.

"Gwen," Arthur smiled guiltily as she reached forward to kiss him.

Why did he keep doing this to her? What has wrong with him, because she certainly didn't deserve this.

But he was such a mess that the line between acceptable and unacceptable seemed a blurry one and Gwen was the only good thing he was clinging onto.

She was always there with her warm embrace after he'd done something stupid like snort a line or shag a guy at the bar further in town.

She never suspected.

He hated himself.

He wished he could break up with her but he couldn't lose her.

He wished he could tell everyone about him, about everything. But he couldn't lose his image. He'd worked way too hard to lose that too.

Arthur pushed those thoughts the back of his mind and he placed an arm around her waist as they walked through the school courtyard to the Lower Sixth form area.

He could see some of the younger kids stare at him curiously, staring at him in awe. At the corner of his eye he could see some of the girls whispering to each other in excitement. He rolled his eyes clutched Gwen tighter who giggled and leaned up to press a kiss on his cheek.

And soon his teammates were rushing up to him, clapping him on his back, greeting him, ruffling his hair.

"I'm going to go see my friends," Gwen murmured in Arthur's ear.

Arthur got the impression that she didn't really like his friends, but he didn't mind, there were times where he didn't like them either. So he kissed her cheek, promising her that he would talk to her later.

He could hear Gwaine wolf-whistling loudly, approaching him from behind.

"Shut up," Arthur snapped, spinning around and punching the young Irishman in his arm.

"Missed you too, Princess, now, want to ditch this sorry lot and head to the form room?" Gwaine snickered.

"Yeah, alright," Arthur agreed.

Gwaine swung an arm around his shoulder and the two of them began walking ahead of the rest of their friends, who seemed in close pursuit.

But they were in another form room; Gwaine was really the only friend he had in his one.

The two of them wandered late into class, stifling their laughter as they collapsed onto the chairs of the nearest study table.

Mrs Morgan, their teacher, coughed pointedly.

"Nice to see that you've finally joined the rest of the class. I was just talking about the year level assembly we're having later on today, so-"She began just as some tall boy stumbled breathlessly into class.

"I am so sorry I'm late, I'm new, I just moved here, I got lost walking, I hope I've got the right room." He panted.

"It's quite alright, you must be Merlin Emrys, welcome, why don't you go and take a seat next to Gwen?" Mrs Morgan replied kindly, tapping on the spare seat next to Gwen's.

Arthur just realized who he was right when he spun around and plopped himself on the empty seat next to bloody Gwen's.

It was the same guy who had accidently caught him with the waiter in the bathroom. The one with the big ears and high cheekbones. The one that had those big dark blue eyes and really pale skin.

Now that he got a better look at him, he was actually oddly attractive.

Arthur internally kicked himself over and over for thinking that.

Of course he'd go to this school and be in Arthur's year level. Of course he'd be in his form-class. It was just his luck.

And if he told _anyone _what he had seen. His life would be ruined. It was already damaged from the inside, but his whole appearance would be tarnished. Forever.

This was not good.

But Merlin, it was such a strange name. There was something familiar about it, but he just couldn't quite place a finger on it.

The situation was rapidly escalating.

Mrs Morgan rambled on and on about locker procedures and various school rules but Arthur wasn't listening. He was too focused on Merlin and Gwen sitting next to each other and _smiling. _

"Oh, I'd like to get in there," Gwaine remarked quietly in his ear, cutting off his train of thought.

"Who, the new kid?" Arthur whispered back.

"Oh yeah, just look at him, those cheekbones could cut through glass." Gwaine smirked.

"Is he even interested in, you know, guys?" Arthur muttered.

"Trust me on this one, I've had enough experience to know if..." Gwaine snorted.

Arthur wanted to ask how he even knew, but refrained hesitantly and gave his friend a tight lipped smile. It's not that he felt jealous or anything towards Merlin, well perhaps- no, he refused to think that. But mostly he pitied the other boy. Gwaine had already slept with half the student body. He could charm the pants of anyone and then break their heart. He just didn't do relationships.

Arthur was so glad that bloody Gwaine didn't know his secret. The endless teasing and constant disbelief would not stop.

Arthur made a mental note to speak to Merlin later about the toilet incident.

He would, correct a 'misunderstanding'. He already had to focus on getting perfect marks and scoring perfect goals and keeping a perfect girlfriend all while sneaking out at night and doing the unexplainable.

He didn't need to deal with a problem like this _Mer_lin idiot.

And he didn't know how this school year would turn out. He just prayed everything wouldn't be as screwed up as his expectations were.

**Merlin**

He could feel Arthur's stare on his back as he tried to focus on what the teacher was talking about.

"I'm Gwen," Gwen whispered. "Nice to meet you,"

"Hey, I'm Merlin," Merlin whispered back, trying to ignore the awkward fact that he'd learned a bit about her from Gaius. "It's nice to meet you too,"

"Mr Lotsson," Mrs Morgan suddenly barked. "Stop talking! And since you're paying such avid attention, why don't you do the honour of handing out each of the student schedules!"

Merlin could hear the guy next to Arthur loudly groan and stagger up to collect the pile of white sheets Mrs Morgan was pointing at on her desk.

He swept his neck length brown hair back and grabbed the pile, attempting to find every student and pass the paper to them. When he finally reached Merlin, he realized the taller, tanned boy was _hot_. Not Arthur hot but he was a different kind of sexy.

And that's when he smirked right at Merlin, giving him a small wink as their fingers briefly touched in the passing of paper.

Merlin flushed in embarrassment and looked away just has Gwen glanced at him empathetically.

**Arthur **

When they were dismissed from class and were told to put their belongings in their lockers before the assembly, Arthur confronted Gwaine.

He could not believe what he had just see before. What the fuck was Gwaine doing, brushing the other poor boy's fingers like that. He was pissed off. So when Gwaine returned to his spot, Arthur sent him a murderous look.

"What are you doing?" Arthur hissed.

"Why do you care?" Gwaine snickered.

"He's new, come on, give him a break." Arthur pleaded.

"Look, Princess, I hardly ever get anyone in this 95% hetero school, he's a treat, and the chances are, he won't refuse me, so I don't have to go down to Sonic tonight," Gwaine said.

"You're really fucked up," Arthur said angrily.

Sonic was a gay bar situated in the shady part of Camelot and he knew Gwaine liked to go there when he felt like it, accompanied with his fake ID and confident smile. He looked eighteen anyway, so they barely asked for his ID card.

Arthur went there some Friday nights, because that's when he knew Gwaine had theatre rehearsals/practice. But he rarely went there in case someone he knew turned up, Camelot was a small town and even though kids from all over the UK came to his school and usually didn't stick around after it had finished. Arthur could not simply take the risk.

Besides if he really did want a shag, he'd drive to London and check out some of the sights from there.

"You jealous, Princess?" Gwaine asked sarcastically.

"No," Arthur grumbled, and as he was putting his things away in his locker he quickly scanned the area of crowded students for Merlin.

He saw him disappear out the glass doors with Gwen by his side, most likely heading for the assembly.

He prayed to god he wouldn't utter a word to her.

**Merlin **

He'd been taken to a large patch of shade underneath a leafy tree by Gwen when the two hour 'welcome back' school assembly had ended, insinuating the beginning of Lunchtime.

"Guys, this is Merlin," Gwen announced, flinging herself on the soft grass.

"Hey," Merlin gave a small smile, sitting down next to her; as she had insisted he spend lunch with her and her friends.

There was a straggly blonde girl with a dreamy expression on her face as she lay on the grass. Sitting next to her was a handsome boy resting against the tree with a book tucked behind his hand.

"So you're the new bloke," Elena, the blonde, commented. "Nice to meet you. You have very nice eyes you know,"

"Thanks," Merlin grinned. "Nice to meet you too."

"I'm Lancelot, but you can call me Lance." The boy said kindly.

"So you're from Ealdor, yeah?" Elena questioned.

"Yeah I am, I just moved here yesterday." Merlin replied.

"I've never been there," Lancelot added.

"It's a long drive though," Elena said. "Did you drive up or catch the train?"

"The train," Merlin was beginning to like Gwen's friends. They seemed nice enough.

"It ages away." Elena pointed out.

"I know right, hey, is that Jane Eyre?" Merlin blurted out.

"Yeah, why?" Lance seemed genuinely happy that Merlin had taken an interest in what he was reading.

"Nothing, just it's a really good book," The words rushed out of Merlin's mouth before he could stop himself.

"It is, it is …" Lancelot agreed.

"Are you gay, Merlin?" Elena suddenly piped up

"Elena!" Gwen scolded, nudging her friend roughly.

"I'm sorry! I just heard Gwaine rambling on about how gorgeous you looked. I guess he was right."

Merlin's face began to heat up, a pool of flattery and nervousness swirling around in his stomach.

"Um, yeah," Merlin said embarrassedly.

The whole situation had escalated to another level of awkward. Sure, Elena's questioned seemed a bit intrusive but it was the truth. Who was this Gwaine bloke anyway?

"Who's Gwaine?" asked Merlin, fidgeting with his tie.

"A sexy Irishman who's slept with half the female population of our school and more guys you could ever account for." Elena smirked.

"He was the one handing out the schedules this morning, and he's not that bad!" Gwen protested.

"Oh okay, so he wasn't actually mocking me?" Merlin asked cautiously.

"Nup. He's a tosser at times but he's honest." Elena confirmed.

"He's not _that _badlooking I suppose…" Merlin blurted out, why was saying this to this people he barely knew? They seemed trustworthy enough.

"Oh my god you like him." Elena shrieked.

"Calm yourself woman," Lancelot suddenly cried out. "He's only been here two seconds."

Gwen giggled.

"I like you, Merlin." Elena piped up. "Let's be friends 5ever yeah?"

"Sure thing." Merlin laughed heartily, pulling out an apple from his back pocket and biting into it.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" Gwen giggled.

"Uhh, no, I don't." Merlin replied.

"Shut up Gwen, just because you have eye candy at your arm doesn't mean everyone else has to have one." Elena said loudly.

"Hey! How does that relate to anything?" Gwen protested. "Besides his name's not eye candy, Merlin, it's Arthur."

"Yeah and I'd smack that arse any day." Elena snorted. "What about you, Merlin?"

"Um, no, not really my type." Merlin lied.

"Elena shut up and stop making my boyfriend's arse the topic of discussion." Gwen defended.

Merlin suddenly noticed Lance's quietness concerning that topic and his sad eyes.

He didn't know the other boy very well, but he began to suspect it was because he liked Elena or Gwen. He felt sorry for him.

"So, I have History after lunch. Do any of you?" He interrupted.

…

Merlin had discovered that he shared the same history class as Gwen, so when the school bell rung loudly, signalling the end of lunch the two of them walked up to the lockers together. Elena and Lance waved them off, since they had a free period.

He decided he rather liked that odd group. They seemed genuine, and Elena was blunt and a tad crazy, but she was funny and could make situations less awkward.

It took a couple of minutes to reach the spacious classroom where half the students had already taken up the seats.

Merlin and Gwen shared one of the desks at the end of the classroom.

When more students began piling in, their teacher, Mr James, began the lesson by explaining a brief synopsis of events that had triggered the French Revolution.

There was a brief sound of a door opening and Arthur sauntered in lazily, searching the entirety of the classroom for a place to sit. He saw his friends, Bors, Mike and Owen smirk at him from the front.

And then he saw Gwen, smiling softly at him from the end of the classroom, sitting right next to this Merlin fellow.

He began panicking as he quickly swept his eyes around the room and came to realization that there was only one spot left, the one next to Merlin.

He cursed the desks for oddly seating three.

"Mr Pendragon!" The teacher, Mr James, barked right at him. "Go sit down. I'll speak to you about this tardiness later!"

….

The rest of the lesson was horribly quiet and awkward among the three of them. Gwen didn't understand what was wrong. Her phone was under her pencil case and she was texting Arthur, asking him if he was alright.

Simultaneously, her and Merlin kept passing notes, about facebook and twitter and his opinion on Kirstin Dunst in Marie Antoinette.

It seemed neither of the three were paying much attention to the lesson.

Arthur was too focused on typing 'yes/no' replies back to Gwen and glancing at the tips of Merlin's huge ears, which were bright red.

They were actually quite adorable.

But he ignored that irritating observation and tried to figure out how he would handle Merlin.

How he would even speak to Merlin.

And honestly, he did appear quite harmless. But Arthur was well aware that appearances could be deceiving.

He did after all; know that fact better than anyone.


	3. I Knew You Were Trouble

Merlin was walking home, hopefully on the right path this time and was contemplating the day's events.

His first day turned out better than what he had hoped. He had made a few friends and the whole concept of Private School was a lot more different than what he had originally thought, it was more, well, seemingly normal.

He plugged in his headphones and looked up at the street sign for any recognition that he was on the right path. Oh great. He had gone the wrong way, again.

The sign said 'Tate Avenue' instead of 'John Street'. He could've sworn he was going the right way though. It was bad enough that he couldn't call up Gaius since he was working at the clinic but now the best option for him was to find the main road or the train station, where he could ask for directions.

It would be awkward but it had to be done, he had no other choice.

Clenching his teeth, he could see a group of schoolgirls walking, presumably to the train station or a café; he decided to discreetly follow them.

After crossing the road and walking at snail pace, he saw Arthur walk around the corner and past the group of girls, who immediately started giggling at his presence.

His heart dropped as Arthur approached him. This was a conversation he certainly did not want to have.

"You," Arthur said simply.

"Erm, sorry, what?" Merlin jittered, heart racing.

"You, the idiot who walked in the bathroom last night." Arthur sniffed.

"Excuse you," Merlin was beginning to get agitated. "If anyone's an idiot, it's you."

"Did you stalk me here?" Merlin added angrily.

"Of course not." Arthur scoffed. "I merely walk the opposite way as you and my house is down there."

"What do you want?" Merlin asked tiredly.

"I don't want you to repeat a word of what you saw to _anyone._" Arthur warned.

"And what if I do?" Merlin challenged, fully aware of the deep shit he was getting himself into. "I'm sure your girlfriend would like to know what you've been fucking someone else behind her back, or is it more than one person? It seems likely considering you're a-"

He was cut off by Arthur gripping his arm tightly and pulling him forward, practically snarling in his face.

"You. Do. Not. Want. To. Mess. With. Me." He growled.

"You're a gigantic prat." Merlin spat, trying to ignore the shiver of arousal at the pit of his stomach.

Arthur's strong hold on his pale arm tightened, it was starting to hurt.

"I can make your school life here, hell." Arthur said coldly.

"I wasn't planning on telling anyone. I'd rather not create drama nor make enemies," Merlin sneered. "But this just goes to show how much of a gigantic ass you are."

Suddenly becoming aware of their closeness, Arthur let go of the other boy's wrist and backed away.

"She's really nice and she certainly doesn't deserve you." Merlin snapped.

"You don't even know me, how can you be so quick to judge?" Arthur hissed.

"Because regardless of the circumstances you're in or whatever, you were clearly cheating, and from what I've gathered she never would." Merlin retorted.

"How would you know? You barely know her." Arthur said.

"Because I usually tend to judge a person's character pretty well. She's in love with you, and you've obviously had something occur in your life that's causing you to fuck around." Merlin answered.

"How can you be so crude?" Arthur asked.

"Why would you cheat?" Merlin challenged.

"So we're good then?" Arthur said tiredly.

"No," Merlin replied.

"But you're not going to tell?" Arthur muttered.

"No." Merlin rolled his eyes.

Arthur actually looked as if he were contemplating a whole mindset of memories in his head.

"You're lost aren't you?" Arthur guessed.

"So you know where my house is now, do you?" Merlin lost his patience. "You really are stalking me."

"As if, I'd stalk _you._" Arthur said smugly.

Merlin clenched his fists. Arthur fucking Pendragon was the most infuriating person he'd met in his whole entire life. And his sore wrist actually tingled, yes tingled from where Arthur had grabbed him.

"I'm going now." Merlin smiled sarcastically.

"Good." Arthur said shortly.

"Bye," Merlin replied angrily.

The pair started walking their separate ways. Merlin quickly turned his head.

"WHERE'S MILLERS STREET?" Merlin called out.

"KEEP GOING STRAIGHT, TURN LEFT AT TILLERS. IT'S OFF THAT." Arthur yelled back, rolling his eyes.

Arthur's instructions had surprisingly led him to Gaius's house. He twisted the key in the hole and let himself in.

The first thing was log into facebook where he had received over four friend notifications, they were from Elena Godwyn, Gwen Smith, Lance Du Lac and more surprisingly, Arthur Pendragon.

As if Arthur _actually _expected him to accept.

He just, sort of stared at the prat's profile picture, which was him and Gwen cuddling each other at the park. What a douche.

Then clicked on the profile link and began a quick stalking. Mostly all his photos were of him playing football. This one shot, was just purely him kicking the goal, and you could see the tight fitting red shorts cupping his rather nice arse.

His arousal increased as he flicked through the photos.

What was wrong with him? He didn't even _like _Arthur. He was one messed up individual who cheated on his girlfriend and was generally a prick.

_Why did he have to be so damn hot? _

He went back to the homepage and then suddenly a chat window popped up.

It was a group inbox made my Elena which included Gwen and Lance as well as himself.

The message read: **GWAINE'S HAVING A BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY THIS WEEKEND COS HIS PARENTS ARE OUT OF TOWN, AND HE SAID I COULD INVITE WHOEVER THE FUCK I WANT. SO, I WANT YOU GUYS TO COME SO I'M NOT STUCK ALONE WITH HIM. PLS COME :D :D :D ALSO MERLIN WHATS YOUR MOBILE? **

Merlin wasn't sure if he was even allowed to go. Besides, he wasn't even sure he wanted to go. All the popular kids would be there and he felt uncomfortable around them. And he was 500% certain that Arthur PRATdragon would be there, yes, he had taken to calling him childish names. And drinking would certainly be involved, and this sexy Irishman Gwaine bloke was running it, who apparently liked the way he looked.

**I'm sorry, I don't know yet, I'll have to ask my Uncle Gaius and then get back to you :) **Merlin typed back quickly, then typed in his phone number afterwards.

A side of him wanted to go but a side of him kept going against it.

Realizing he had to shower. He closed the facebook window and walked to the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the cupboard next to it.

He shut the bathroom door behind him and pulled off his uniform. Then stepped into the shower and let the steaming water blast onto his body. He looked down at himself and groaned.

He desperately needed a wank.

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews, and for adding it to story alerts, and favourite-ing it, etc! It really inspires me to write more, I really appreciate it. **

**So, I hope you've all enjoyed this one, trust me, things get more interesting in the next one, which will most likely come out at the end of next week ;) **

**Tell me what you think of this chapter. **

**x**

**IsadoraPieces **


	4. Faster Than The Wind, Passionate As Sin

**Alright, here's a big one. Just a warning: It does contain brief smut towards the end, so if it isn't your thing then you can skip past it. **

The first week of school passed considerably well, apart from the huge amount of assignments and homework and studying he had to do. He sat with Elena, Gwen and Lance every day and discovered that he and Gwen shared most of their classes together, apart from Maths, but it was alright because he had Lance, even though he was a bit quiet, they had bonded over their love for classic novels.

He had told Gaius that he was going out with Elena for dinner and then they were going back to her place to hang out afterwards, due to Elena's insistent nagging at him coming with her, just to go to this blasted party.

Gaius happily bought the excuse and told him that he was glad that Merlin was making new friends, he said he'd come pick him up around half past ten. If he actually knew where Merlin was going, he'd probably kill him.

Elena hugged Merlin after he told her that Gaius believed him, her eyes shone happily. He could tell that she was kind of pissed at Lance and Gwen for bailing on her.

…

On Friday, when Arthur, Gwen and Merlin sat in History together, again, since Arthur's friends liked to sit without him and snigger about it from the distance, their teacher had made everyone who sat together work on a team project. Precisely a power-point presentation and a speech.

Merlin and Arthur just glanced at each other dejectedly. Merlin could practically hear the other boy's mental groan.

"Why don't you two just get along?" Gwen suddenly pleaded. "Come on, for me."

"What?" Arthur said. "We get along fine, don't we, Merlin?"

And then he proceeded to punch Merlin jokily in the arm.

"Yeah we get along great." Merlin said sarcastically. "I'm sorry, Gwen, we'll try."

"Yeah." Arthur added.

"Thank you, now, do you two want to come over to mine, Monday after school and we'll work on it?" Gwen suggested.

"Sure, I'm up for it." Merlin agreed.

"Yeah same, except I'll have to leave after an hour, because I have training. I'm the Captain, you know." Arthur said pointedly at Merlin.

"What are you trying to impress me?" Merlin mocked.

"Come on you two!" Gwen snapped.

…

Saturday evening soon dawned upon him, Elena was going to be dropped off at his house and the both of them were going to walk there.

Merlin was dressed in a knitted wool jumper with a black t-shirt underneath. He pulled on a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and tied the shoe laces of his bright blue converse. After spritzing a bit of cologne on his face and slipping his phone in his pocket, he jogged downstairs and plunked on the couch next to Gaius, who was watching the evening news.

The party started at 7, and it was 6:43 at the moment, Merlin tapped his foot impatiently but then shot up as he heard the doorbell ring.

"Elena's here." Merlin said to Gaius. "I better get going."

"Alright, have fun, my boy," Gaius replied.

He flung open the door, to be greeted by Elena, who was wearing a pastel yellow dress and a white cardigan.

…

The two of them arrived at Gwaine's earlier than expected but it was alright, as Gwaine welcomed them in with open arms and thrust cups in their direction.

He practically grabbed Merlin away from Elena and began a conversation.

"You look nice tonight." Gwaine smirked, eyeing him up and down.

"Um, thanks, you do too." Merlin blushed, taking in Gwaine's loose black shirt and trousers.

Honestly, he was so smoking hot, that he could pull of anything. And he Irish accent was an added bonus.

Merlin took a sip of the drink; it was mixed vodka and fizzy lemonade. He only aimed to have one drink because he didn't want to get drunk nor tipsy when Elena's dad came to pick them up around 10ish.

"You're from Ealdor, aren't you?" Gwaine questioned.

"Yeah I am," Merlin smiled.

"It's a nice place, I've been before, I love the cute little shops, and cafes, and people." Gwaine smirked. "Especially, the people,"

"Your pick up lines are terrible." Merlin laughed.

Gwaine pulled off a dramatic hurtful look and placed a hand on his chest.

"Oh, Merlin, how you hurt me so.." Gwaine replied. "I'm glad I have the chance to _finally _talk to you. I wanted to at school but I can never catch you."

"I'm usually sitting with Elena, Gwen and Lance." Merlin giggled.

"Is that an invitation?" Gwaine raised an eyebrow.

They both laughed. Merlin was having a good time; he picked up another drink from the table next to him.

…

Arthur flung open the door of Gwaine's (stupidly) unlocked door and saw his football team scattered across the house, some of them were chatting up girls from their school. He saw other people from the school too, like the upper sixth formers and some other random kids from his year level. It was a pretty packed house, and it was only half past seven. Music was playing at full blast and mainly everyone was dancing like idiots in the lounge room.

His swept around the room for any sign of Gwaine, and he saw him in a corner chatting to Merlin, touching his arm and laughing.

What the fuck were they doing?

He approached the pair and interrupted their conversation.

"Nice party you have going here, Gwaine." Arthur remarked. "But don't you think we should do some shots to get in really going?"

"Yeah, yeah definitely." Gwaine agreed. "Will you help me, Merlin?"

"Of course!" Merlin replied and then smiled sweetly right at Arthur.

Arthur was so pissed and he didn't even though why. It was because of probably the idiot _Mer_lin. He walked right over to the ice bucket and pulled out a can of beer.

He was going to get wasted tonight.

"WHO WANTS TO DO SOME SHOTS?" Gwaine called out, and heaps of students began walking over to the kitchen, including Arthur.

He had tiny plastic shot glasses and began pouring small amounts of tequila into each one. Merlin had just finished chopping up lemon wedges and they were placed in a big bowl for everyone to take alongside a dish of salt.

Soon enough, people were grabbing at the drinks and the lemon, the crowd decreased in the room and Arthur walked up to the pair who didn't even notice that he was there.

Gwaine licked the tip of his finger and ran it down the bare skin of Merlin's slender neck; he added salt on the wetted spot and placed a lemon wedge in Merlin's mouth. He picked up the shot and ran his tongue enticingly down the stretch of neck, flicking at the grains of salt, then quickly downed the tequila and smacked his lips against Merlin, sucking on the lemon slowly.

Arthur could not believe what he had just seen. He was both incredibly aroused and incredibly angry. He coughed consciously at them, eyeing the patch of Merlin's skin that Gwaine had just touched, and the flushed baby pink lips in the perfect Cupid's bow shape.

"What are you staring at, Princess?" Gwaine smirked.

"You being disgusting, as usual. And you're blocking the shots, tosser, so move." Arthur replied grumpily.

…

Arthur was half-hard and piss drunk as Gwen's friend, Elena, started a conversation with him.

He pushed past her and looked around the room for Merlin, yes, he wanted Merlin, with his slim hips and cute bum and high cheekbones and everything else.

…

"So…" Gwaine began. "Want to go upstairs?"

Merlin smiled and pretended to look mock-horrified, he had gotten himself tipsy and felt more confident than before.

"Look Gwaine," Merlin said. "You're really great. Not to mention hilarious. And I have fun with you, I do, you're just really not my type."

He felt a slightly bad, but how could he possibly explain that his type consisted of dumbarse blondes with douchebag attitudes and a tendency of impossibly infuriating him. How had his life turned out like this? He couldn't believe that he actually,_ liked, _Arthur. And he couldn't believe that he had just admitted it to himself, honestly, how much had he drunk?

"Ah well, it was worth a shot wasn't it?" Gwaine laughed it off. "Mates?"

"I would love to be mates." Merlin grinned.

"Does that mean I can still ogle your arse?" Gwaine asked cheekily as he leaned over to kiss Merlin's cheek.

"Oi!" Merlin protested. "Do you know where Elena is? I've tried searching everywhere for her? And I've texted her a few times, we have to leave in a half hour…"

"Nah sorry, I don't, but you should try checking the back garden, because there's a tire swing back there, and when we were growing up as kids, she loved that place." Gwaine advised.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go catch up with Percy and Bors now," Gwaine added, "I'll talk to you later yeah?"

And with a swish of his hair, he walked off in the other distance whilst Merlin started walking down the passage way towards the back entrance door.

…

Arthur saw Merlin's figure parting from Gwaine and walk down the back hallway. He started walking after him.

"Merlin." He called out drunkenly. "Merlin."

…

Merlin heard Arthur yelling out his name. He rolled his eyes and decided to ignore it, turning left to walk through the sliding glass doors.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Arthur whined.

"Because you… you…are a, impossible dollophead." Merlin turned out, glaring at Arthur.

"Dollophead?" Arthur asked confusedly.

"Go away, I'm trying to find Elena." Merlin hissed.

"Just stop- just stop being so- so- " Arthur stumbled out.

"Me?" Merlin growled.

"Yeah exactly." Arthur agreed.

"Why don't you make me?" Merlin spat out.

"Maybe I will," Arthur said in a low voice.

Merlin felt the other boy's strong hands grip his hips, backing him roughly against the wall. He felt Arthur's raging hard on and his heavy body pressed against his and moaned unwillingly.

He was going to come, right there in his pants.

It felt so right despite everything that was happening.

Arthur closed the gap between their faces by pressing his lips violently against his. The kiss was wet, messy and sloppy but they couldn't stop. He could taste tequila in Arthur's mouth, he could taste mint and he could taste chocolate. It was driving him crazy.

Merlin entangled his hands in Arthur's hair and jerked his own body against his, whimpering.

"Wait, wait, stop," Merlin pushed Arthur off him, out of breath. "Someone could catch us."

"I don't care!" Arthur whinged.

"Yes you, do," Merlin insisted.

"Let's go to the bathroom?" Arthur breathed and grabbed Merlin's hand, leading him towards the small room near them.

He pulled off Merlin's jumper and grabbed him, placing a wet kiss on his smooth stretch of neck. The taste of salt still lingered there and he wanted it gone. He bit down on the spot, bruising the pale skin, he tugged at the collar of Merlin's tight t-shirt and licked a trail from the base of his neck right down to his collarbone.

Merlin shivered in excitement and grabbed Arthur's bulge, earning a groan from the other boy. He broke away from Arthur and kneeled down, unzipping his jeans and pulling out his length from his pants.

It was certainly large, and leaking with pre-come. He gazed up at Arthur with wide innocent eyes for permission and Arthur tilted back his head, sighing with anticipation.

Arthur sunk his fingers into Merlin's silky raven hair. Merlin moaned with need and rubbed his soft cheek against Arthur's cock. Merlin watched as Arthur's knees almost collapsed and smirked to himself.

"Get on with it." Arthur growled, tightening his grip on his hair.

Merlin wrapped his hand around the base of Arthur's cock, he pressed his lips against the tip and opened it, taking the thick length in his mouth.

He began moving his hand up and down, slick with come and sweat.

He heard Arthur panting loudly, begging for more and pushing his head forward to take more of the length.

When Arthur finally reached climax, he clumsily pulled Merlin away from him, come sliding down his legs.

When he'd taken a few deep breaths, he helped Merlin get off the tiled bathroom floor and into a heated kiss.

And then suddenly there was a loud knock on the door.

They looked at each other in panic and Arthur fumbled with pulling his jeans up and straightening his shirt.

He placed a hand on Merlin's mouth, signalling him to go stand behind the shower curtain.

The person behind the door turned out to be Elena. She stared at Arthur, horrified.

"I don't even want to know what you're doing in there." She said. "Continue- but have you seen Merlin anywhere?"

"Um, check out front," Arthur mumbled. "He might be waiting for you there."

Elena gave him a disapproving look but thanked him all the same, she marched off in the direction and Arthur slammed the door shut.

"Get out." Arthur said quietly. "Just go."

Merlin just blinked at him, and felt tears welling up at the corner of his eyes.

"What did I do?" Merlin whispered.

"This is wrong and I'm drunk." Arthur replied simply.

"Well you weren't drunk and it clearly didn't seem wrong to you when I caught you shagging the waiter at the restaurant!" Merlin nearly shouted and grabbed his jumper of the ground.

"You don't know shit." Arthur muttered.

"Well obviously I don't. But I'm glad this didn't happen." Merlin said angrily. "Because, I can't actually believe that I'd go as low, as you."

Merlin tried to hold back the tears as he barged out of the room and through the ground, searching for Elena.

He saw her resting against the door frame; she worriedly smiled at him and waved him over.

"My dad texted that the driver's on his way," Elena said. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Merlin sighed. "Just tired."

**Don't hate me!**

**I want to just thank you all for reading, adding to favourites and for the feedback etc. You guys are amazing. **

**Please feel free to drop in a review and tell me what you're thinking, how you're finding the fic, etc. Till the next time! X **


	5. On a Friday, In a Cafe

**Merlin**

The aftermath of the 'what-the-hell-was-I-thinking' incident, as Merlin had named it, proved to be horribly awkward. Elena began glancing at him suspiciously at school, as if she knew something was up. Arthur avoided him completely and would not even look at him in class. And every single time Merlin looked at Gwen, he felt a stab of guilt pierce through his stomach.

How could he have done that? Betray her like that? After she had shown such kindness when he had just arrived. He honestly contemplated telling her everything about Arthur, but there was a high chance that she simply would not believe because her love for Arthur would blind her from seeing the obvious.

Two months flew past like they were nothing, Merlin fit comfortably into his new life. He called Hunith whenever he could, he texted Will and occasionally went out for a coffee with Gwaine or a movie/dinner with the others. He also studied like crazy for all his tests, in order to maintain his score average, which was very high.

Half-term was fast approaching, and all he had planned to do was to relax at home, have a huge telly marathon and read, and visit Ealdor, of course. He missed his Mum terribly.

It was finally the last day before break. He was pulling out his English books when Gwen bounced cheerfully towards him, her loose curls flying behind her.

"Merlin, come to London with me tomorrow!" Gwen exclaimed. "And then we'll have a sleep over afterwards?"

"Erm," Merlin started. "I'm not sure; I'll try to ask Gaius."

The truth was that he could most likely go but he wanted to avoid Gwen.

"Oh," Gwen replied, crestfallen. "Is it me? Have I done something wrong- you've seemed distant over the past couple of weeks?"

"Oh no, not at all, it's just I've had a lot of homework." Merlin said lamely. "But I really hope I can come!"

"So do I," Gwen said excitedly. "I've been saving up for ages, and I so badly want to go shopping."

Merlin smiled at her sincerely as she pulled him into a hug.

** Arthur**

Morgana was still pissed at him. It had been past a month and she didn't even told him why, it was as if she was expecting him to come up to her and explain something.

He rolled his eyes at his sister's retreating figure after the row that they just had and tossed his school bag on the couch. School was over for a week but the funny thing was he felt no form of excitement whatsoever about that fact.

It was strange. He just felt, bored, and empty and all his thoughts were clouded with Merlin.

He decided to go for a jog to clear his head.

After Arthur had dressed in shorts and a comfy grey sweatshirt, he left the house and began running at a slow pace, a bottle of water in his right hand and his iPod jiggling around in his pocket. He shoved the headphones in his ear and started moving faster.

He jogged past the park near his house, down the esplanade and down the main road. It was calming, peaceful and the sudden rush of endorphins felt good.

He tried to push Merlin out of his head. But he just couldn't. Not after what had happened at the party. He had convinced himself that it was a mistake, and that he had kicked him out of that bathroom that night because Elena would get suspicious and Gwen could find out. Certainly not because he actually had feelings for Merlin that he had never felt for anyone else, and he was scared of letting himself express them. No, certainly not.

He began making his way up near the shopping centre and paused to take a breath, just when a person collided into his back painfully, in the flash of the moment Arthur spun around and grabbed them, before they could fall down. Papers fluttered down on the pavement and several books fell onto his feet.

His grip slackened on the figure once he realized who it was. Of course it was Merlin. Of course he'd be clumsy enough to do something like this. He let go of the other boy and glared at him. And proceeded to pick up the heavy books lying on the ground.

He dumped them in Merlin's hands and started walking the other direction.

"Well," Merlin called out. "Aren't you going to talk to me?"

"About what?" Arthur fumed, still not turning around.

"About what happened?" Merlin asked.

"I don't particularly want to. Now, I'm going off jogging now, like I was before you interrupted me." Arthur expressed angrily.

Merlin jogged up to him, carrying the massive pile of books and staring at him with those bright blue eyes.

"Oi, listen to me, you overgrown childish PRAT," Merlin barked. "Don't you think you at least owe me an explanation?"

"I have to go." Arthur replied.

Merlin touched his shoulder.

"Arthur," Merlin said quietly.

"Fine!" Arthur exploded. "Fine! We'll talk!"

**Merlin **

Merlin settled down on the park bench near Arthur, resting his library books next to him. They were silent for a few moments, glancing at the children playing football, parents alongside them. He turned to look at Arthur's face, which had fallen, as if a wave of nostalgia had suddenly hit him. He knew Arthur was attempting a poker face, but he could see an immense amount of sadness in his eyes.

"We drank. We hooked up. I stopped it before it could go any further, Merlin," Arthur said.

"Good." Merlin replied. "I'm glad it stopped."

"So what's more to say?" Arthur asked.

"Nothing, I just, you confuse me." Merlin began. "Why do you cheat on Gwen?"

"Now, _that _is none of your concern." Arthur said.

"I know. I just, you confuse me, and I've never met someone like you." Merlin confessed.

Arthur laughed bitterly.

"Trust me, Merlin," Arthur said. "You don't want to know someone like me."

"Do you regret it?" Merlin questioned.

"What we did?" Arthur responded. "I don't know."

"Neither do I." Merlin said honestly.

There was another silence.

"My Mother died two years ago." Arthur suddenly admitted, pausing. "I had just turned fourteen. I was reckless, I was stupid. I had been invited to this party. With older kids, I desperately wanted to go. So, knowing full when that my parents wouldn't let me, I snuck out. My mum came into my room later that night, I don't what for, but she saw that I was missing and she didn't know where I was. She tried ringing me, but I had left my phone at home. Um, Morgana told her where I had gone, so she decided to drive out to the house. She found me. She dragged me out of there. I was angry, she had spoilt my night. We were fighting in the car. That was it. A car hit us."

"Anyway," Arthur continued. "I can distinctly remember her throwing herself at me. Shielding me. That was it. I woke up at the hospital with my father and Morgana towering over me. Every inch of my body hurt. I had wondered where Mum was. And when I saw their facial expressions, I knew."

Merlin placed a hand gently on his arm. He couldn't imagine something like this happening to his mother, it would be awful. He couldn't even bear to think about it.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Merlin asked gently.

"I don't know. Because I feel like it." Arthur said quietly.

"I'm sor-" Merlin began.

"Don't say that." Arthur said. "Let me finish, by saying that I can still see disappointment in my father's eyes. I know he wishes that I had died instead. He'd never admit it, but I know he blames me."

Merlin didn't know what to say to that. He stared into Arthur's watery blue eyes; he shot a small sad smile at the other boy.

"I like being with Gwen. I know I'm using her and I hate myself for it. I like shagging other people, I like doing a line, I like drinking. Because just for a moment, I can forget about what happened. It haunts me. I don't think I've hated anyone more than I've hated myself." Arthur said softly.

"That doesn't excuse you from what you're doing," Merlin said.

"I know." Arthur replied. "But I won't stop."

"You're a wreck." Merlin said silently.

"I know." Arthur agreed.

"Look at yourself." Merlin said. "Do you think your Mum would want you to be like this?"

"No," Arthur sighed. "But it helps me forget that it's my all my fault."

Merlin grabbed Arthur's shoulder and spun the around boy around to face him.

"Hey, hey, it's _not _your fault." Merlin exclaimed. "It's not anyone's fault."

"How do you know?" Arthur yelled. "When I was the one who snuck out, she would have never come after me, if I hadn't been _so damn selfish._"

"A lot of choices were made that night, Arthur, yours, Morgana's decision to tell your Mum, and then her decision to drive out." Merlin stated.

"But the worst one was mine." Arthur said.

Merlin took a few books of the pile of his and pushed them at Arthur's chest.

"You're going to help me return these." Merlin signalled at the books. "And then we're going to get an ice-cream."

"But it's cold." Arthur protested.

"It'll be warm inside." Merlin rolled his eyes.

"I didn't bring any money." Arthur muttered.

"I'll pay." Merlin grinned.

**Arthur**

He wasn't exactly sure why he had confessed all of this to Merlin. He didn't tell _anyone _any of this. It was private. And now the impossible idiot was dragging him along to get _ice cream. _

The shop was nearly empty when they walked in. And Merlin simply flashed a warm smile to the red-haired lady behind the counter.

He stared at all the flavours before making his choice.

'I'll have vanilla, please," Arthur asked politely.

"Oh of course it's exactly like you to choose vanilla." Merlin commented, seemingly forgetting the intense conversation they'd had earlier.

"Why, what's wrong with vanilla?" Arthur defended.

"Nothing, it's just so _plain._" Merlin expressed.

"Oh really? What are you choosing then?" Arthur argued.

"Cookies and cream." Merlin said smugly.

"And that's not-" Arthur was cut off by the lady's sharp voice.

"Is he your boyfriend, Merlin?"

"Oh, no, no." Merlin laughed awkwardly.

"The way you lads seem to be arguing, it's like an old married couple," She declared happily.

"Nothing like that." Arthur assured.

"What a shame though, aye, you would make a good pair." She insisted.

"Eva," Merlin said amusedly. "Thank you, but we're just friends."

So they were now friends were they? Arthur could live with that.

Once Eva had handed them the ice cream cones and Merlin had paid, they proceeded to go sit on one of the little red tables at the end. Arthur placed his water bottle down and began eating his ice cream.

"Hand me your phone." Arthur demanded.

"Why?" Merlin asked suspiciously.

"So I can give you my number?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

Merlin dug through the pocket of his khaki trousers and tossed his phone over to Arthur.

"Why do you bite your ice cream?" Merlin questioned, irritated.

"Why do you ask annoying questions?" Arthur answered. "How are you supposed to eat an ice cream anyway?"

Merlin blinked at him, shaking his head and raised his ice cream towards his lips.

Arthur watched him, electricity coiling in his stomach as Merlin he poked out his pink tongue and ran it slowly across the cold surface; he licked the melted ice cream running down the side, and when he raised a cocky eyebrow at Arthur, he had a smear of it, just above his upper lip.

He was so entranced at the 'ice-cream-was-never-so-arousing' display by Merlin, he forgot about his own one, which was running down his hand.

Merlin snorted and chucked him a tissue from the metal box at the end of the table.

"You alright there?" Merlin smirked.

"Yeah." Arthur grunted. "Perfectly fine."

Merlin smiled at him mischievously with those twinkling eyes and pouty lips and Arthur had to resist the urge to lean right over and kiss them senseless.

It made him wonder, for the thousandth time, what the hell was wrong with him?

**They're newfound friendship is developing, argh. Alright, so chapter 5, there you go! Thank you so much, fabulous readers, for the feedback. **

**And as you can probably tell, I've changed my penname to 'StateOfLoki' because I was kind of getting sick of my previous one, ANYWAY, I hope you're all having a wonderful day or night depending on where you are, and that you've enjoyed reading this chapter. **

**Reviews are love. xx **


	6. I'm Only Me When I'm With You

**Merlin **

The afternoon that he had spent with Arthur had been wonderful to say the least. He was honestly surprised at what a good time he actually had.

They'd started texting, a lot.

It was Saturday morning and he was on the tube to London with Gwen. He'd just thrown on a plaid black shirt with jeans and scarf that day, but Gwen had actually made an effort, wearing a baby pink summer dress and denim jacket. She looked extra radiant.

**Is there anything good on at the movies? A. **

Merlin held back a smile.

**Nothing I'd be interested in. Besides, I'm shopping with Gwen in London today. M. **

**Ok well I'm bored. A. **

**You're prat. Go kick the football around or something. M. **

"Who are you texting?" Gwen asked cheerily, sliding down her aviators to the end of her nose.

"Just Will," Merlin lied. "He's coming up to visit, in three days, and I'm going down to Ealdor before to visit my Mum and we're going to catch the train back together, because he's staying over."

"Sweet. So do we get to meet him then?" She questioned excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah of course! He's looking forward to meeting you guys," Merlin laughed.

"Oh, Merlin, I have something to tell you," Gwen smiled.

"What, what's up?" Merlin asked nervously.

"Well, I haven't seen you lately because of all the studying and everything, but I applied to go for an exchange, in France, Paris to be exact, through our school, before the school year started and guess what, I got in, I only found out two, three weeks ago. So, I'm going to France in a nine bloody days, leaving on Monday evening. " Gwen squealed.

"Oh my god, wow, Gwen, I am so happy for you! Isn't a little short notice though? I'm going to miss you though, but now I finally understand why you were so insistent on going shopping." Merlin beamed.

"Yeah, it is short notice but that's only because the girl who originally got in, got pulled out cause' she was arrested for drug possession or something, and I was the second choice." Gwen grinned.

**I can't be bothered kicking the football around. MERRRLINNNN. A. **

…

After a whole day of relentless walking, gliding between shop to shop, being confronted by posh shop assistants and shoving food as quick as they could into their mouths, they were finally done.

It was past 4pm and they were shuffling through the streets carrying bags filled with different dresses, shirts, trousers, most of it all belonged to Gwen, but Merlin had brought a plain black shirt with a beautiful silver dragon on the front, it was expensive but so worth it.

**Arthur **

Morgana kicked open the door to his room.

"Dinner," She said coldly.

"Morgana, you've been treating me like shit for the past month, what have I honestly done?" Arthur exploded.

"I've given you a month to explain yourself to me. A month! You seriously don't know?" Morgana huffed.

"NO!" Arthur yelled.

Morgana wandered over and threw herself on the spin-chair of his desk.

"I actually wanted you to tell me." Morgana admitted.

"Tell you what?" Arthur sighed, he had no fucking idea what his sister was going on about.

"That you're gay?" Morgana said nervously.

"I'm not- I'm not GAY. Jesus, Morgana, where did you get that idea?" Arthur shouted.

"I saw you at the 'Palace' ages ago, on Saturday night." Morgana said quietly.

"You must've seen someone else that looked like me," Arthur suggested, fiddling with the fabric of his jumper.

"No, it was you, you were right in the centre, dancing with as many blokes as you could." Morgana explained. "I thought you saw me. Because you looked in my direction. But you were probably too piss-drunk and high to even notice I was there!"

"Morgana." Arthur said silently.

"What are you doing Arthur?" Morgana cried out.

"Are you going to tell Dad?" Arthur asked curtly.

"No, no, of course not. I wouldn't tell _Uther._ But what the bloody hell were you thinking?" Morgana spat out.

"Nothing." Arthur answered.

"Anyway, Rita just left, dinner's ready, and as usual, Uther isn't at home, he's out working. So it's just you and I." Morgana said coldly.

"I don't want to talk about this." Arthur warned.

"We'll talk later, don't think I'll forget. Now let's go have tea. The lasagne she made smells amazing." Morgana sighed.

…

When they had finished eating and Arthur had put his plate and cutlery away in the dishwasher, he returned back to his room and flung himself on the bed. It was just past seven, he wondered if Merlin would be back from London yet.

**You back? A. **

**Just got home. What's up? M. **

**Morgana knows. A. **

Just then he received a new message from Gwen. **I had so much fun shopping with Merlin today! He's amazing. Omg I wish you guys would get along. G. **

He'd reply to that later, he checked his phone inbox to see if Merlin had replied.

**Shit. Is she going to tell anyone? M. **

**I don't know. I really don't know. Can you come over? Tell Gaius that you're doing homework or something. A. **

**Yeah. Alright. I'll be there in 15. **

"Oi, Morgana, Merlin's coming over," Arthur walked to his sister's bedroom.

"Who's Merlin?" Morgana asked.

"A friend, we have to do an assignment." Arthur answered nervously.

"Okay, well. Why can't you do it later on in the week?" Morgana asked suspiciously.

"Um, he's going to Ealdor for the days we have left." Arthur replied.

"Have fun. Well, I'm going clubbing, don't wait up." Morgana said, placing large silver hoops in her ears.

**Merlin**

Gaius drove him to Arthur's house, which was massive. It was like a cream coloured mansion with an intricate pebble path leading up to the large red door. A silver Volvo was parked in the drive way. He gaped in silence at it whilst Gaius laughed at his expression.

"Yes, yes it is actually that big." Gaius confirmed.

"I mean, I knew he was well-off. But I didn't think _this _rich." Merlin muttered.

"Well, what time you want to be picked up, my boy?" Gaius questioned.

"I'll ring you," Merlin responded distractedly.

"Alright, as long as it's not too late, I'm an old man, Merlin, I need my sleep." Gaius waved him off.

Merlin nervously walked up to the front and checked his watch; it was just past seven pm. He held the knocker and rapped it on the door a few times.

He was greeted by a beautiful dark haired girl, with piercing green eyes and porcelain skin. She wore a black lace and emerald strapless dress and long black heels. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and she carried a black and gold clutch.

"Hi! You must be Arthur's friend, Merlin," She exclaimed. "My name's Morgana, I'm his sister, anyway, I'm just on my way out, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," Merlin greeted.

"Merlin!" Arthur interrupted. "Hurry up."

"Well, I better go," Morgana smiled. "I'll talk to you later."

Arthur suddenly popped up behind Morgana and beckoned him forward. She turned around to glare daggers at Arthur and flashed a smile to Merlin before brushing past him to walk to the silver Volvo out front.

The two boys clambered up the staircase to get to Arthur's room. He had a whole array of shelves on his wall dedicated to the huge amount of trophies and a large, surprisingly tidy desk underneath that. A grey and black four poster bed lay in the middle and he had some odd sort of dresser crossed with wardrobe in the corner. Merlin eyed the wall mounted TV with a Wii and X-Box lying at the bottom with jealousy.

Arthur shut the door behind them.

"So, what happened?" Merlin asked, concerned.

"She saw me in the Palace." Arthur paused. "You do know what the Palace is right?"

"Yes, yes, I am actually gay you know, even though I don't hide behind a girlfriend and fuck guys every weekend," Merlin stated matter-of-fact-tedly.

"Anyway!" Arthur continued. "She saw me there and I don't know what she's going to do, I mean, she said that she's not going to tell Dad, and I don't think she'll tell anyone but what if she does?"

"Why don't you break up with Gwen? Honestly." Merlin criticized.

"Because I love her and I don't want to hurt her!" Arthur expressed vehemently.

"You might 'love' her, Arthur, but that doesn't mean, you're _in _love with her. You're hurting her and she doesn't even know it. Just, spare her the misery." Merlin sighed, trying to ignore the pang in his chest at the words 'I love her'.

Arthur steered the conversation off topic.

"Let's just talk about something else." Arthur muttered. "What's up with you?"

Merlin had to try very hard to resist punching him.

"Nothing really, my mate Will is coming up from Ealdor on Tuesday." Merlin admitted, seating himself on the bed.

"Oh, that's pretty cool." Arthur said. "I never asked you- why would you move _here_ and leave your old school?"

"Straight to the point, are we?" Merlin commented. "But I moved here because I didn't really like my other school, so when I heard CP was doing a scholarship examination for the New Year, I applied."

At least he was telling him the half-truth. Merlin just couldn't go back and think about that night that had forced him to leave, the immense pain, the blood, the bruises scattered all around his body. He shivered at the thought of the scar stretched along the expanse of his thigh. The only ones that knew were his Mum, Will and Gaius, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked worriedly.

"Mhmm yeah!" Merlin said falsely brightly.

"Are you positively _sure? _You went dead silent for a second." Arthur said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes! I just couldn't stop thinking about how much of an utter PRAT you are!" Merlin faked a laugh.

"What's wrong?" Arthur said seriously.

"Why do you think that something's wrong?" Merlin asked, annoyed.

"Your defensive humour really gives it away." Arthur raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah well, as you said before 'let's just talk about something else' alright?" Merlin retorted defensively.

"Alright!" Arthur raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fair enough!"

Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, are you up for some Halo?" Arthur suggested.

"Yes but let me tell you, that I'm absolutely shit at it." Merlin warned.

"Don't be a twat. I'll go easy on you." Arthur said wickedly.

"Really?" Merlin asked, sarcastically earnest.

"Pfft. No." Arthur scoffed.

**Arthur **

He was sprawled out on the ivory carpet next to Merlin, who indeed, was horrendous and he gave up, because it wasn't even fun if they were losing all the fucking time.

"Let's… Why don't we just stop?" Arthur pleaded. "Um, we'll play Wii or something?"

"What about all my valiant effort?" Merlin protested.

"Yeah, you are truly the worst player I have ever lived to see." Arthur said apologetically.

"Hey!" Merlin defended. "But fine, we'll do something else."

"Do you want something to drink?" Arthur offered. "I'm thirsty."

"Okay," Merlin agreed.

"Off to the kitchen we go." Arthur led the way down the spiralling stairs to his kitchen.

"Oh wow." Merlin laughed softly, in awe of the huge room.

"Do you want a Coke, juice, water?" Arthur offered.

"I'll have coke," Merlin smiled.

Arthur dug through the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of Coke and tossed one at Merlin.

Merlin cracked it open and pressed it on his lips just as Arthur accidently shut the fridge door on his fingers. Choking with laughter, Merlin accidently spilled his drink all down the front of his shirt.

Arthur winced in pain.

"Merlin! It's not funny! And oh great, you've spilt it." Arthur growled in frustration.

"Sorry!" Merlin, was still laughing, his shirt sopping wet.

"Whatever, you obviously can't wear that, I'll go get you a spare t-shirt of mine, honestly." Arthur huffed.

By the time he had gotten back downstairs, carrying a plain grey t-shirt of his, Merlin had already removed his own shirt.

He pointedly looked away, trying not to stare at his profound hip bones, and his flawless alabaster skin with a smattering of dark chest hair.

He was gorgeous and Arthur wanted nothing more than to ravage that body of his, kiss those flushed pink lips, pull at that soft hair while he-

"Arthur!" Merlin cut in his dirty thoughts.

"What?" Arthur responded hurriedly.

"They're showing reruns of Doctor Who tonight, on telly, I want to watch it…" Merlin insisted.

"Come on. Really? But you've seen the episodes countless times, you were boasting about it yesterday_._" Arthur argued, drifting away from his previous thoughts.

"Fine, fine." Arthur surrendered. "I'll do it for _you. _Let's go back upstairs."

**You guys are so fucking awesome with you reading my fic, giving me feedback, adding to story alerts and adding to favourites and I just cannot anymore. Thank you so much asdfghjk, have a virtual hug from me. **

**Leave a review telling me your thoughts of the chapter, and the fic altogether, I really value your opinions. I love you all! **

**Till the next time I update then ;) **


	7. Treacherous

**Arthur **

"Arthur." Uther said seriously.

"What?" Arthur muttered, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth at the breakfast table.

Merlin was gone today. He had left in the morning to go to Ealdor for the day and return in the evening with his friend 'Will'. He knew it was selfish of him, but he kind of wished Merlin had stayed, so they could hang out again. But then Gwaine had asked him if he wanted to go kick around a ball with him and the boys and he knew he couldn't refuse.

"Are you even listening to me?" Uther barked. "Don't answer that. Anyway, I'm sorry I'm telling you this at such short notice but there's this charity ball on Sunday night. In seven days exactly. I've bought us all tickets. As a respected member of the society, you can understand why I'm expected to attend."

"Okay." Arthur agreed, in a monotone voice.

"I also bought a ticket for that Gwen girl; I expect she'll be your date?" Uther asked.

"Yeah," Arthur answered. "That she will."

**Merlin **

Hunith had tears in her eyes as she pulled her son in for a tight embrace outside the train station. Once she let go, Will jumped on Merlin, punched his shoulder and gave him an awkward one armed hug.

"Fuck, I've missed you, mate." Will admitted.

"You too, Will, you too." Merlin laughed.

"Well, I've got lunch prepared at home. Let's head off, shall we?" Hunith suggested warmly, signalling to her car which was parked just down the road.

**Arthur **

"And he scores!" Gwaine commented, mocking Arthur's swift kick into the goal post.

"Fuck off, Gwaine." Arthur said wearily.

"Oi, you twats." Bors yelled out. "We're heading down to McDonalds. You two up for it?"

Gwaine gave a quick thumbs up to him.

"Oi what's bothering you, Princess?" Gwaine questioned Arthur as he picked up the ball and started walking in the direction that Bors and the others were walking at.

"Nothing." Arthur hissed.

"You can tell me." Gwaine insisted.

"And what? Have you spread it around the whole school?" Arthur grunted. "Not a chance."

"I promise I won't!" Gwaine grinned widely.

"I'm going to go talk to Bors now." Arthur changed the subject abruptly. "I haven't spoken to him in a while."

Arthur jogged hastily forward to catch up with all the others, ignoring Gwaine's shouts of protest.

** Merlin **

"I'm going to come down again in a few weeks." Merlin promised to his Mother, who leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

"I know, darling, I love you." Hunith smiled.

"I love you too." Merlin hugged her, feeling like he was five year's old again.

"Bye Mrs Emrys." Will smiled, and Hunith leant over to peck him on the cheek as well.

"You boys have fun alright?" Hunith said cheerfully.

…

The train ride was pretty uneventful apart from Will getting into an argument with one of the passengers over god knows what. Merlin had to usher him quickly away from them and take a seat somewhere else in the nearly deserted carriage.

Over two hours had passed before they could finally get off the train and onto the station. Will pulled his hoodie over his head and picked up his backpack before following Merlin out of the station and onto the streets.

"So where does Gaius live?" Will questioned.

"Just down there." Merlin pointed into black. It was dark out.

"Man, I have so much to tell you," Will exclaimed.

Merlin laughed happily as he clapped his best friend on the back.

"Well?" Merlin grinned. "What's been happening?"

**Arthur **

He was tired after catching up with his friends and Gwen had insisted he come over for dinner tonight. He didn't know exactly what for, but it was probably some sort of date. So he wore his very best trousers and light grey shirt and walked past a couple of houses to her house just past seven pm.

He rang the doorbell cautiously and she greeted him with a large lip-gloss coated smile. She had applied an excessive amount of make-up on her features, which didn't look bad. But they just didn't look _her. _She was wearing a low cut, short black dress and had tied up her curls into a messy bun.

She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in, shutting the door behind her.

"Um, Gwen, what are you doing?" Arthur questioned anxiously.

"I sort of feel like, we've been distant lately." Gwen intoned. "But I think I know why."

And she crushed her lips against his, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Gwen." Arthur pulled away. "Gwen. This has to stop."

"Why?" Gwen asked sultrily.

"Because, it's not the right time." Arthur said.

"I'm sorry." Gwen murmured. "I'm sorry. I just thought."

"I know," Arthur comforted guiltily. "But, we'll do this when we're both ready, yeah?"

"Thank you, I didn't think I was. I just thought you'd want it, because everyone's been doing it lately and, you know." Gwen sighed embarrassedly. "Oh god, I've just caused an awkward situation haven't I?"

"No, of course not- alright, maybe a little one." Arthur replied. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you- would you like to come with me to the charity gala on Sunday night?"

**Merlin**

They ate dinner hurriedly and now they were both lying on their beds. Merlin, on his actual bed, and Will, on a mattress on the ground.

"Do you fancy anyone?" Will questioned, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the dark ceiling.

"Um, no, of course not. " Merlin lied.

"I know when you're lying, Merlin, your voice goes all high pitched when you're about to finish your sentence." Will rolled his eyes. "Tell me."

"Fine." Merlin admitted. "Yes there is someone. And it's a relief finally talking about it to someone because there's no one here I can tell. And before you ask, I'm not telling you his name. Just that he's fucking irritating, I can never understand him at times and I don't even know why I like him so much. I really shouldn't but I can't help it."

"Is he straight?" Will asked.

"Yes, no- I don't know." Merlin burrowed deeper into his pillow. "He's confusing."

"Is he leading you on? Tell me his name. He sounds like a right wanker to me. I'll fix him up good and proper." Will threatened.

"What, so you can yell out loud that I like him in the middle of the street?" Merlin scoffed. "I don't think he's leading me on."

"He sounds confusing as fuck." Will replied before protesting. "That was one time!"

"It was humiliating." Merlin argued.

"Is he in your little group then, the one I'm meeting tomorrow?" Will continued relentlessly.

"Will?" Merlin called out.

"Yeah, mate?" Will answered.

"Go the fuck to sleep."

…

Gwen, Elena and Lance were waiting for them outside the quaint little café at the corner of the street.

"Will, behave." Merlin warned quietly as they were fast approaching.

"That's the hundredth time; you've told me that, I am, I am, I swear." Will hissed back.

It was just past twelve, they were catching up for lunch and Merlin seriously did not need Will to turn the whole meet-up into an embarrassing situation and there was a high chance that he would.

"Hi!" Gwen welcomed Will. "I'm Gwen; it's nice to finally meet you."

"I'm Lance," Lance added politely.

"My name's Elena," Elena said cheerfully.

"Nice to meet all of you." Will said, eyeing Merlin for his approval. "And as you already know, since Merlin probably talks about how amazing I am all of the time, I'm Will."

"Well, let's go get some lunch, I'm starving!" Gwen exclaimed, giggling.

They ordered drinks as soon as they sat down. Merlin, Will and Elena got cokes while Gwen and Lance ordered juices- they were both similar like that.

"So do you lot know about Merlin's big secret gay crush." Will asked loudly, smirking at Merlin's horrified expression.

Elena choked on her drink.

"What. The. Fuck." Elena nearly shouted. "YOU FANCY SOMEONE AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME."

"Elena! Shut up!" Lance hissed.

"Will! Shut your big fat mouth." Merlin growled, he could not _believe _that Will had just done that, he barely knew these people.

"So, who is it Merlin?" Gwen insisted, half laughing.

"Leave him alone!" Lance defended. "I'm certain he'll tell us when he wants to."

"Thank you, Lance!" Merlin cried out.

"When he was telling me about him. He sounded like a massive twat. I need to get to the bottom of who he is." Will joked.

"It's Gwaine. Isn't it?" Elena persisted.

"No- No, it's not Gwaine." Merlin scowled at Will who was had this confident little smirk on his face.

"I just heard my oh-so-beautiful name being called." Gwaine suddenly approached them, wearing a black apron over his maroon shirt and black jeans. "What's up?"

"Oh, I forgot you told me you worked here now." Elena huffed.

"Started just last week…I want to piss off my parents as much as I can." Gwaine said. "Anyway, do you guys want to order anything? And nice to meet you Merlin's friend Will. I'm also Merlin's _friend _Gwaine."

"Yeah you too mate," Will replied humorously.

"Is this the bloke you like, Merlin?" Will whispered in Merlin's ear. Loudly.

"No!" Merlin kicked his friend under the table.

"I'm offended, sweet cheeks." Gwaine laughed, winking at Merlin.

"Gwaine, you know what I mean," Merlin smiled.

"Well, Elena and I are going to share a bowl of chips. Lance wants grilled vegetable Panini." Gwen ordered.

"What do you two want?" Elena asked.

"I'll have fish and chips." Will said.

"I'll just get the pumpkin soup." Merlin added.

'Rightio then, have fun kids." Gwaine grinned, jotting down the orders.

"Gwaine, I'm three months older than you." Elena raised her eyebrows. "You can't talk."

Gwaine hushed Elena and swaggered off.

**Arthur **

"So, we met Merlin's friend, Will, today." Gwen said over the phone to him in the evening.

"Oh yeah," He replied back. "Is he alright?"

"He's pretty outspoken but he's funny," Gwen said. "Kind of like an extreme version of Elena. We just came back from dropping him off at the station."

"Ah okay," Arthur laughed. "Anyway, I have to go now, dinner's almost ready."

"Alright, bye, love you." Gwen said just before he hung up.

Arthur grabbed his leather jacket of the desk chair in his room and marched down the stairs. Surprisingly, Uther was home, and Uther never got home till past twelve. It was only past six now, what the fuck was his father up to?

"Where are you heading?" Uther asked.

"Off to a friend's to study." Arthur lied. "Why are you home so early anyway?"

"I have a few business matters, to deal with." Uther replied. "What about dinner? Whose house are you going to?"

"I'll have dinner there. It doesn't matter." Arthur muttered.

"Be home by ten." Uther said.

"Yeah, dad. Bye." Arthur said, slamming the front door shut behind him. His father would barely notice he was gone.

He was off to Merlin's. It took around ten minutes to walk there, but time flew by pretty fast since he had his iPod in, listening to Coldplay as he rushed through the streets.

Arthur saw Merlin's figure behind the high window of the house, he was typing away at the laptop. Arthur shuffled through the lawn and picked up a small stone that lay on the side of a potted plant.

He tossed up at the glass and saw Merlin jump in fear and rush over to see the small commotion. He flung open his window and stared angrily at Arthur.

"What do you want?" Merlin shot at him.

"Nothing, won't Gaius hear you?" Arthur questioned.

"No, because he's gone down to London for the rest of the week. He's been invited to some conference on this pharmaceutical drug or something. Go to the front door, prat." Merlin yelled out.

Arthur waited patiently out the front for the lanky boy to open the door and let him in.

**Merlin**

What the hell was Arthur even doing here? It's not even as if he had bothered to call or text to inform him that he was coming. He just suddenly thought it would be alright. Merlin slammed down the laptop quickly and hurriedly ran down to let Arthur in.

"What's up?" Merlin asked amusedly, staring at Arthur's shiny leather jacket. Fuck, he looked r_eally _hot in it.

"I was bored." Arthur shrugged, leaning against the doorframe.

"And you didn't tell me you were coming beforehand?" Merlin moved out of the way to let the other boy inside.

"Nope." Arthur stated simply.

"Well, I was just about to make some tea. Mac and Cheese because quite frankly, it tastes really good, if you want some, you better help me." Merlin smiled, walking to the small kitchen.

"I love Mac and Cheese. And, I'm absolutely starving. So, I'll show you how a real pro makes it." Arthur smirked.

"It's the packet stuff, you ass, and it all tastes the same." Merlin rolled his eyes.

"It depends on how you make it, and more importantly, _who _makes it." Arthur said arrogantly.

Merlin shoved him playfully.

"How come you didn't introduce me to your friend Will?" Arthur questioned jokingly.

"I thought you wouldn't be interested." Merlin answered truthfully. "I didn't think."

"Jeez thanks." Arthur retorted, crossing his arms because he was slightly hurt at the fact that Merlin didn't think he was important enough to be introduced to his friend.

"Sorry, next time, yeah?" Merlin laughed guiltily.

The truth was, he was scared of Will finding out about his little crush because they'd known each other since they were practically babies and he was _sure _Will would pick something off about his interaction with Arthur.

**Phew, so I hope you've all liked this chapter :') Next one will be shorter but it'll have more Merthur moments, yay :D Thank you for the zillionth time for leaving feedback and reading/adding to faves/story alerts- the whole lot. I'm actually dying due to overload of feels from the 'Hollow Queen' ep idek I'm so emotional haha please send help. So excited for next week's Merlin, it looks so good. But poor Merlin, my bb :3 I'm not going to spoil anything, don't worry ;) **

**Reviews are love *have a bucket load of response love from me* **


	8. State Of Grace

**Merlin**

Elena had dragged him out of his house on Thursday morning just so he could go shopping with her and Gwen and Lance for this charity dance thing they were talking excitedly about every second of the day.

Merlin did not care about it at all, he really didn't. Right until Elena had begged him to be her date, and it had turned out, quite surprisingly that her Father was actually the one organizing and funding the whole event. He had no clue that she was ridiculously rich, she really didn't have that air about her, the air that Arthur definitely had.

Lance was attending too, except he had actually paid for his ticket. It made Merlin seem like a freeloader. The whole thing was for charity after all, and he felt bad for not contributing.

They all caught the bus to Caerleon, which, according to Gwen, was an excellent shopping scene and not far as London, and the fact that it was only a twenty minute bus ride was an added bonus.

They were going to rent tuxes for Merlin and Lance and then go dress shopping afterwards. Merlin hoped that it wasn't _too _pricey, because even though he didn't spend that much money, and he had a decent amount stacked up in his back account as Hunith put a fair bit of money in it every month which he never used because Gaius always seemed to give him money when he went out with his friends.

They clambered off the bus at Caerleon, which was a bigger town with a lot more shops and more modern.

"The suit place is a few minutes away." Elena said brightly, leading them down the pebble encrusted pathway and past the pretty water fountain.

"I actually love Caerleon. It's nice." Gwen grinned.

The group of four walked past the cinema, which was displaying show times for a load of different movies.

"We have to go see Perks." Elena exclaimed. "I really want to see that. The book was so good and come on guys!"

"It was a good read. I'm in." Lance replied.

"I would, but I'm sorry guys, Arthur and I were planning on seeing it together." Gwen apologized.

"So?" Elena disregarded her answer. "Ask him if he wants to join us?"

"I don't think…" Gwen said grimly.

"Ask him anyway!" Elena insisted.

"Fine!" Gwen pulled out her phone from her handbag.

After a few moments of silence, Gwen's face broke out into a smile.

"Alright. He can come. What time though?" Gwen asked.

"Ummm, tell him 7? It's three now, we have to shop, you have to shop, then we have to eat. And the movie will start then, so…" Elena said logically.

"Sounds good. But how's everyone getting home?" Lance asked.

"There are five people." Merlin pointed out.

"Arthur offered, and I'm sure he can drop us all off since he's driving here. I'll text him." Gwen suggested.

"Yeah do that." Elena agreed.

...

It took over two hours at the tux place, because the whole process was a lot more complicated than it seemed. Merlin ended up choosing plain black tuxedo jacket and trousers, with a bowtie and everything. "Bowties are cool." He had commented, and the shop assistant laughed, understanding the reference. Lance picked out a dark blue one very similar. They were asked to come on Saturday to collect them.

After they had finally finished and paid, all the shops were closing, and they managed to rush in just in time at a fancy gown shop which was still open. The dresses were over four hundred pounds each, and Gwen eyed them nervously while Elena flounced through each isle with ease.

"Gwen! They have a sale rack over here!" Elena piped up earnestly, fingering through all the different textures and fabrics.

Gwen groaned in embarrassment at her friend's loudness but was secretly relieved because she found a long black chiffon dress, with a rhinestone sash, and reasonably priced. She grabbed it and took it to the dressing rooms to try on.

Elena was the one that took the most time. She had grabbed three or four different dresses but ended up putting them back and staring at the whole shop thoughtfully.

Then finally, when the manager announced that the store would be closing in half an hour's time, Elena sighed and grabbed a one-shoulder floor length dress, it was silky and pale blue and Merlin and Lance both agreed that it would look nice on her.

"It's very pretty." Merlin commented, resting against the white pillar in the middle of the store next to Lance.

"It'll suit you," Lance said tiredly.

"I'm getting this shit." Elena concluded.

"Aren't you going to try it on?" Gwen asked.

"It'll fit me." Elena shrugged.

The two girls paid for their dresses, which were then neatly folded into posh shopping bags and handed to them carefully.

"I'm fucking hungry." Elena expressed wearily. "Let's go get some pizza."

…

"Ah, that was good," Elena burped accidently, undoing the top button of her jean shorts for public display.

"Really?" Lance asked.

"Really." Elena grinned, wiping her face with a napkin.

The waiter came up to them and took away the dirty dish and glass remains of their pizza slices and drinks.

"Right then. We'd better pay and then buy our tickets. Yeah?" Gwen laughed.

"I'm sorry for ruining your date, Gwennie." Elena commented.

"You didn't really," Gwen smiled. "I'm leaving soon anyway, and we better make use of the time we have before I'm gone for months."

"We're all going to miss you Gwen." Lance said quietly.

"Amen to that." Elena smiled.

"It's true." Merlin added.

"So, since Merlin and I haven't actually read the book yet, what's it about? I mean we've seen the trailer and stuff but it doesn't seem to give much away." Gwen said.

"La di da, it's about this boy who's a wallflower and he's really cute and stuff and he goes through some depressing shit and then-" Elena began.

"No." Lance cut her off. "Just don't, El, you're going to put them off the movie."

"Well," Elena said, offended. "Why don't you explain the film, if you're such a know-it-all?"

"Don't fight, you two," Gwen interrupted. "Anyway, the movie starts in a half hour; we should go get tickets, yeah?"

"That's a good idea." Merlin smiled. "Now where's Arthur meeting us again?"

"Just outside the cinema." Gwen confirmed.

**Arthur **

He was waiting impatiently outside the theatre, where many people breezed past him to inside. He held his head up high and scanned the area. Two warm hands suddenly were placed on his eyes.

"Guess who?" Gwen asked teasingly.

Arthur laughed turned Gwen around, pulling her into an embrace. Elena and Lance and Merlin were walking behind her, approaching the pair slowly. He broke apart from Gwen and began walking up to Merlin to punch him in the shoulder when he realized that none of the people here knew they were friends, so he contained himself. He smiled briefly at Merlin then looked away when he saw a flash of hurt in his eyes.

"Hey." Arthur said casually to the group.

"Let's go inside, shall we?" Lance suggested.

"How much do I owe you, love, for the ticket?" Arthur said sweetly to Gwen.

"Hush, you don't owe me anything, I don't mind paying." Gwen giggled.

"You people." Elena said pointedly to Arthur and Gwen. "Shut the fuck up. I love being single, because no-one deserves this amount of fabulous. But you're making me depressed about not having someone to pay for my shit, apart from my parents."

"I'll pay for your drink in the movie?" Merlin offered, nudging Elena.

"No it's okay," Elena declined, patting Merlin's shoulder and winking at him.

They all headed inside after that, purchasing popcorn and drinks from the sweet counter and then flashing their tickets to the employee before finding the cinema they were in.

"I'm legit, really scared." Elena confessed, sinking into one of the red plush seats. "They better fucking not screw up the book."

"I really want to read the book now." Merlin said, sitting next to her.

"I've read the reviews, and everyone has pretty much said that it's quite brilliant." Lancelot smiled.

Arthur sat down awkwardly next to Merlin, fighting the compulsion to start a conversation with him; it was so hard because the banter was so natural between them.

"So have you read the book?" Merlin asked Arthur.

"No, not me, I don't really read. I prefer films," Arthur answered politely, because Gwen was watching him like a hawk and he knew that she would bite his head off if he was rude to Merlin- which was a normal thing for him.

"Ooh what type of films, Arthur?" Gwen asked, fighting to keep the conversation going between the two of them because the screen was still black and the trailers hadn't even started yet.

Arthur raised his eyebrows at Gwen and then turned back to Merlin, the corner of his mouth twitching because Merlin already _knew _what type of films Arthur liked.

"Um Hitchcock, and Charlie Chaplin, I like western, sheriff and cowboy films. Anything old really." Arthur said awkwardly.

"Oh cool." Merlin nodded his head slightly.

"Arthur!" Elena suddenly barked "Can we swap?"

"Why?" Arthur answered.

"No." Elena hissed back. "I need Gwen as my cuddle buddy. This movie is sad and I need someone to hold when the onslaught of feels arrive and Merlin's all skin and bones and Lance is wearing the cologne that I don't like."

"Hey!" Lance called out from the other side of Elena.

"Really?" Arthur groaned.

"Arthur, it's best not to argue, I don't mind swapping." Gwen said generously.

"Come on Elena," Arthur insisted.

"Fuck off." Elena replied curtly.

"Fine." Arthur gave in and got up, carrying bag of M & M's.

They did the swap, and now he was wedged between Merlin and Lance.

"Guess I'm stuck with you, Prat." Merlin said silently to the other boy, and the screen finally came to life and the advertisements began.

"Great." Arthur laughed. "Idiot."

After a while, the lights slowly dimmed down, and the movie began to play. Arthur stared at Merlin, who gazing at the screen intently, a hint of sadness in his big blue eyes.

Arthur checked his wristwatch, a half an hour had past, and he movie was pretty good so far. Not at all like what he had been expecting. He felt bad for the character, Charlie, the poor guy. The American high school in this film was _brutal. _He turned back to glance at Merlin, wondering if he was enjoying the movie, it seemed his kind of thing anyway.

Time passed slowly, and the storyline kept getting better and better. He thought he liked the character of Patrick most of all.

And then when the film was coming to an end, and the scenes kept getting more and more intense, he didn't know exactly how it happened, but Merlin's ended up clutching his own hand underneath the drink holder in between them. They didn't talk, they didn't make a noise. Merlin's grip would become tighter whenever there was an especially emotional scene. Arthur didn't pull away, he just left it there.

Oh but it felt so right, he knew they probably would never speak of this after but he didn't want to lose the moment.


	9. Everything Has Changed

**Merlin**

It was the last day of half-term, a Sunday, the day before school started again. Merlin had come to the conclusion that it had been a really good break away from school. He had surprisingly become really good friends with Arthur and they texted and caught up almost every single day. He didn't know why Arthur didn't want other people to know they were friends. What was the harm in it anyway? Arthur had just replied with a stiff 'well we weren't friends _before, _so we suddenly becoming friends looks really suspicious.'

Merlin kept thinking about the way that Arthur held his hand during Perks; it set off a herd of elephants stomping up and down in his stomach. He had meant to ask Arthur about it afterwards, but it simply slipped his memory and then Arthur just went on talking to him as if _nothing _had happened. He couldn't stop thinking about Gwaine's party ages ago as well, the feel of the other boy's lips on his own.

And quite honestly, Merlin couldn't believe that he was falling for this fathomless, arrogant, dick. Why couldn't he have chosen a less painful person to like?

It was just his luck.

Merlin was standing in front of the full body mirror in Elena's bedroom while contemplating his thoughts. He was absent-mindedly smoothing out the small creases on his tuxedo jacket when Elena ran out from her personal bathroom.

"You know what, Merlin." Elena said confidently.

"What?" Merlin spun around, glancing at her confusedly as she was just wearing a faded grey hoodie and matching sweatpants instead of her gown.

"I'm coming like this." Elena proclaimed.

"What?" Merlin exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

"Yep!" Elena popped the 'P'.

"You're kidding," Merlin laughed.

"I really am not. I just want to embarrass my father." Elena shrugged.

"But it's a charity function?" Merlin said.

"Darling, the money I've paid for my outfit isn't going towards charity. The ticket prices and my father's donations are. So it doesn't really matter." Elena smiled.

"It's too tight, isn't it?" Merlin guessed.

"Yeah, I should've tried it on." Elena scratched her head.

"But oh well," Elena added brightly. "At least, now, I'll be comfortable."

"Don't you have any other dresses?" Merlin asked.

"Only this yellow one, I don't particularly _like _wearing dresses, so yeah." Elena said apologetically.

"Well, are you sure you want to go in gym clothes?" Merlin asked unsurely.

"Yeah, I don't care." Elena grinned carelessly.

"Okay then," Merlin agreed amusedly.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," Elena shouted as Lance walked through.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Lance questioned.

"I am," Elena responded proudly, slipping on a pair of lime green flip-flops.

"Seriously?" Lance sat down on the bed.

"Seriously." Merlin confirmed, moving closer to sit next to him.

"Well, we better get a move on then. My dad's already there, and he's sent a car for us just now." Elena glided past the two of them.

"A car, really?" Merlin laughed.

The trio left the house, standing outside nervously for the 'car' to come get them, and when it finally did, Merlin and Lance openly gaped at the sleek black limo while Elena approached it confidently. The driver got out and opened the door for all of them, and after thanking him; they crawled into the vehicle hastily and took in the interior appearance.

"This is so fucking cool." Merlin commented as Lance nodded his head in appearance.

"My dad asked me which car I wanted so I said this one," Elena smirked.

"Won't your dad lose it at you for wearing those clothes?" Lance asked.

"Yeah." Elena sighed. "I don't give a shit."

**Arthur **

Arthur had just picked up Gwen and now they were driving to the extravagant function hall on the other side of town. He pulled up near the building and jumped out, walking to Gwen's side and opening the door for her. Once he ensured the car was locked, Gwen held onto his hand and they started walking to the entrance with all the other attendees.

The room was really, really nice. Arthur had handed their tickets over to the lady sitting at the desk in the lobby and proceeded to enter with Gwen at his side.

Lance walked up to them, with Merlin in tow, who looked the definition of perfection, not that Arthur would ever tell him that, but that tight black tuxedo fit perfectly over his best features, his arse and waist for example. He struggled not to let his eyes wander down, there.

Arthur excused himself to go to the bathroom; this was going to be a long night. He patted down his trouser pocket for the tiny packet. Good, he hadn't forgotten it.

"Where's Elena?" Gwen asked

"Um, she's having a bit of a row with her Father in one of the back rooms." Merlin said.

"Why?" Gwen wondered.

"It's about her dressing choices." Lance laughed.

"Did she wear a revealing dress?" Gwen asked.

"No, she wore a grey hoodie and track-pants." Merlin stifled a laugh.

"She did not!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Yeah, she did." Merlin said.

…

The rest of the night flowed smoothly except Elena was nowhere to be seen, Arthur waited patiently as Gwen attempted to call her numerous times, and then when Elena's father came out onto a balcony to make a speech, Gwen followed him afterwards asking about Elena's whereabouts, he had just replied with a mere 'Elena went home'.

The band started playing, and many couples whizzed out onto the dance-floor, slow dancing with the classical pieces being played.

Arthur saw Uther away from the crowd, chatting away to Morgana.

Gwen looked at him earnestly so he asked her to dance, even though he hated dancing, it was polite and Gwen seemed to enjoy it.

"I love this song." Gwen said cheerily, leaning against his chest.

Arthur saw Lance and Merlin sitting awkwardly together at the back of the room on a bench. He wondered how Merlin would be like dancing, the clumsy idiot would probably fall and step on his own feet. He laughed aloud at the thought. It seemed Merlin grew more attractive the more he stared at him.

"What are you laughing about?" Gwen asked softly, staring up at him.

"Nothing, don't worry." Arthur assured, grinning idiotically.

**Merlin**

Since Elena had been forced to go home, he and Lance ended up sitting together awkwardly at the back of the room. No one wanted to dance with them.

"Want to dance with me?" Merlin asked jokingly.

"Nah, I'm all good." Lance laughed. "I'm sure you're a lovely dancer but I'm terrible."

Merlin wondered if Gwaine was here, he would be more entertaining than Lance, not that he wanted to offend Lance, of course, it was just a simple observation. His eyes swept the room, but alas, there was no sign of him. All he could see were couples on the floor, dancing at snail pace.

It hurt him to see Arthur with Gwen, it really did. The feeling of pain and jealously were ebbing away at his heart. He watched confusedly as the pair broke apart and began walking towards them.

"Lance," Gwen asked kindly. "Want to dance?"

"Erm," Lance said unsurely. "Are you-?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Gwen grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him forwards. "It's my last night here, for a while, come on!"

Arthur took a seat next to Merlin.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself." Arthur commented sarcastically.

"Yeah, I totally am!" Merlin retorted.

"Did you watch the films I lent you?" Arthur questioned.

"Yep." Merlin replied. "They weren't bad, I mean I liked Mackenna's Gold, but westerns aren't really my thing. I liked the whole concept. But The Shining was fucking weird, seriously. So many people love it but I didn't see what was so great in it. And I know you gave me Blade Runner because I love sci fi but I've read 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' the novel it's based off and it's so much better, and more realistic in a sense."

"I thought they were bloody well amazing." Arthur protested.

"Yep, that's your opinion. You can't attempt to get me into them." Merlin laughed.

"I will." Arthur said darkly. "Just you wait."

"Never going to happen." Merlin scoffed.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Arthur asked. "Get something to eat? I'm starving not to mention I despise dancing."

"It's only been an hour," Merlin said. "It's going to look bloody weird if we leave together."

"So?" Arthur pressed on. "Just say that you're sick and I'm driving you home. Then we'll stop at Sainsbury's."

"Well, this _is _pretty boring." Merlin said uneasily. "Yeah okay, we'll do that."

Arthur jumped up and walked up to Gwen and Lance, while Merlin mustered up his best 'sick' face and waited patiently for Arthur to come back.

Merlin dropped his head meekly as Arthur approached him, and walked at a slow pace with him to the lobby, then out the entrance.

"Gwen and Lance say that they hope you feel better." Arthur grinned smugly.

Once they were sitting comfortably in Arthur's silver Audi, which was parked a few minutes away, Arthur scanned the streets for any people and then pressed his own lips against Merlin's and pulled away shortly, leaving a tingling sensation on Merlin's lips.

"I've wanted to do that the whole night." Arthur confessed weakly.

"Why did you do that?" Merlin asked, shocked.

"Because I felt like it," Arthur stated.

"Did you take something tonight?" Merlin questioned angrily.

"Just-some of the good stuff in the bathroom." Arthur muttered.

"Oh great." Merlin barked.

"Well, see, I've been doing a lot less shit since you came," Arthur defended mildly.

"Oh really? Have you?" Merlin gritted his teeth.

"I've been getting the temptation, a lot less, I don't know, the temptation to do things I shouldn't and then get off it." Arthur replied, smiling foolishly.

"You can't just kiss me, like that." Merlin snapped.

Arthur simply laughed, placing his warm palm on Merlin's thigh and leaned over to kiss Merlin's neck. Merlin pushed the other boy off him.

"You're with Gwen." Merlin said.

"I don't care about her, _not in the way I care about you._" Arthur intoned.

"I don't give a fuck." Merlin hissed, ignoring the creeping arousal flooding through his veins.

"Do you_ like_ me, Merlin?" Arthur questioned.

"No. You're an arrogant prat." Merlin growled.

"You're lying," Arthur said. "I see the way you look at me."

"Okay well, you're obviously too fucked up to drive, or take us anywhere to eat. So what's going to happen is that we're going to swap places. I'm going to take you home." Merlin concluded.

"No-one could compare to what I feel for you." Arthur said quietly. "I'm scared, Merlin, I'm scared about what I feel for you, it's never happened before."

Merlin tried to ignore his comments, convincing himself that he was obviously not in his right mind.

"Please, Merlin, please talk to me," Arthur pleaded. "I couldn't stand seeing you with Gwaine that night, I hated every moment of it, I had to try my very hardest not to punch him, Don't tell me you like him."

"I don't like him Arthur." Merlin sighed.

"Why? We could be together right now." Arthur replied hastily.

"I'm not going to betray Gwen again. And I don't want to be just another fuck of yours. I can't allow myself to be with you." Merlin sighed.

"Then, I'll break up with Guinevere," Arthur said.

"No, you won't." Merlin grimaced. "You're not in your right mind."

"I promise." Arthur insisted. "I promise I'll break up with her."

"Shut up, Arthur, and get out of the car," Merlin ordered.

"But I've got a hard on," Arthur giggled.

"Bloody hell." Merlin shook his head and got out of the passenger seat, walking over to Arthur's side to physically drag him out.

**Well, that's the chapter for you. What did you all think? (: I can never thank you enough for all the adding to favourites/alerts and feedback. I'm grateful for all of them. Fuck I'm dying right now because of the preview for Merlin 5x11, ugh, ASDFGHJLSKS. Anyway sorry for the sudden off the topic burst, it's just- I HAVE SO MANY FEELS. **

**Much love, leave a review my precious bbys xxx**


	10. This Path Is Reckless

**Merlin**

Arthur rang him first thing in the morning, it was just past seven and Merlin was rolling around tiredly in bed when he sleepily answered his phone.

"Hello?" Merlin yawned.

"Merlin, sorry to wake you," Arthur said clearly. "Um, I just wanted to apologize about last night."

"Yeah, you're sorry, you regret what happened, it won't happen again, blah blah bloody blah." Merlin mumbled into the phone, he was really pissed off.

He nearly crashed Arthur's car a few times last night, as he bumpily drove into the giant drive way.

And then, after mothering Arthur and making him a hot chocolate and tucking him into bed, he had to walk home in the fucking cold.

He felt so done.

"I wasn't going to say that!" Arthur protested.

"Yeah, you were." Merlin snapped. "Now, bye."

"Wait, wait, wait, and don't hang up." Arthur begged. "What I said last night, it was true. All of it."

"What?" Merlin barked.

"The truth is I don't know if I have feelings for you, or not, I just don't know, I don't know if there's something more than attraction, Merlin." Arthur confessed.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Merlin replied, irritated.

"Wait," Arthur said simply. "Wait for me."

"I can't make promises that I may not be able to keep, Arthur," Merlin expressed furiously.

"I don't want to hurt Gwen. I don't know what I want." Arthur responded sadly.

"Well, figure it out." Merlin grunted and hung up.

**Arthur **

Merlin had been avoiding him since the morning. He didn't even glance in his direction. And now it was just past two, and he was sitting in the school Library as he had a free period, and so did Merlin, it seemed. Because the raven-haired boy was sitting on the other side of the room, alone on an empty table.

He had waited most of the day for him to at least acknowledge his presence, but since that was not happening, Arthur picked up his biology books and walked up to Merlin, pulling up a chair next to him.

Merlin just stared at him in utter disbelief and continued scribbling notes and highlighting in the column of the English poetry book. Well, at least he had gotten some kind of reaction.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked. "Talk to me."

Merlin didn't say anything. Arthur reached out and touched his hand, Merlin flinched away.

"I'm trying to make an effort here!" Arthur snapped.

"And you win all the awards." Merlin said sarcastically. "Now leave me alone so I can fucking revise this poetry before my Lit class."

"Let's just go for a walk." Arthur suggested.

"If I agree, then will you let me study peacefully?" Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Yup." Arthur agreed.

The pair picked up their books and headed out of the library, slowly walking around the school grounds.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Merlin questioned awkwardly.

"Us." Arthur answered, staring vaguely at the concrete.

"There is no, us." Merlin motioned with his hands.

"I want there to be, I just need you, to give me time." Arthur replied weakly.

"You mentioned that before. And I stand with all I said." Merlin clutched his books tighter.

It was silent as they approached the bike shed, turning around the corner to sit at a rickety old bench at the back. Merlin chucked his books down and sat, while Arthur did the same.

"I'm sorry I kissed you." Arthur said genuinely, leaning against the brick wall. "Thank you for driving me home with minimal damage on my car."

"Ha. Ha." Merlin responded. "Well I couldn't let you drive, and so what, you kissed me, no harm done. Just don't do it again."

"If I were to be perfectly honest, Merlin, I'm scared of you. I'm scared of what this is, because it's something new, something that I have personally, never felt." Arthur paused. "As you probably, know, I'm a wreck."

"But, then you came, and for some reason, I like you. You kind of inspire me to not do that kind of shit. And I know I did it last night, but, I can't," Arthur continued. "It's confusing to explain, but I don't want to see disappointment in your eyes, I can't bear it. You're something new."

Merlin's emotions were haywire. He felt angry and flattered and excited and nervous and surprised all at once.

He didn't even know what to say to something like that.

"Merlin?" Arthur said quietly.

"I don't know what to reply to that." Merlin replied. "You know, you're practically a stranger, I haven't known you that long…"

"Don't say something cheesy like 'but it feels like I've known you forever'…" Arthur warned.

"No, I was just about to say thank you, and that you're still a prat." Merlin laughed.

There was a brief pause.

"What happens now?" Merlin added.

"Well, first…" Arthur said suggestively.

"No, firstly, you're going to break up with Gwen," Merlin pointed out.

"I will, when she gets back from Paris, I swear, I just don't want to end things over the phone." Arthur promised.

"I'm willing to wait," Merlin said, before darting his eyes around their surroundings for any signs of any students.

"But I'm not, I just, I don't think I can wait any longer." Arthur breathed.

"I'd rather not either," Merlin answered honestly. "But will you promise me, promise that you'll break up with her as soon as she returns?"

Merlin sharply took a breath of air. He did like Arthur, he really, really did. What if the same thing that happened with Gwen, was going to happen to him? What he really worth all that risk? Not to mention the massive secret they'd have to keep, how careful they'd have to be around their friends.

But before he could think any further, Arthur's hand was cupping his jaw, and he was firmly planting a kiss on his lips.

"I promise, Merlin, I promise," Arthur whispered, against the other boy's warm mouth.

**Lancelot **

Lance was having the worst day, his head ached like hell. He just wanted to go home and sleep it off, because taking two panadols clearly hadn't helped. So after going to the office and grabbing a notified-leave-of-absence note, he was about to leave the school.

After grabbing his bag from his locker, Lance made his way to the bike shed at the end of the school. As he began getting closer and closer, he heard rustling and whispering from behind the shed.

Curious, Lance silently stuck his head around the corner.

He could not believe what he was seeing; he even blinked a couple of times to ensure that he was seeing sane things.

It was Merlin, nice, kind, his friend, Merlin, and Gwen's prick boyfriend Arthur.

What the hell was going on?

He didn't know whether to make his presence known, or back away. He didn't really want to confront them. So he backed away and quickly slipped inside the small building.

Of course it would bug him till he found out why they were doing what they were doing. He assumed that it was most likely Arthur's fault. It was _always _his fault.

Gwen was kind, loving, smart, how could anyone have the heart to do this to her? He had loved her since he had first laid eyes on her, but she was completely in love with Arthur and saw right past Lance. All the time.

He unchained his bike. He would try to talk to Merlin about it later, try to understand the reason behind all this.

**Arthur**

He pulled away, eyeing Merlin's adorable blush and tousled hair and flushed lips. He swore he heard someone in the bike shed; hence the subtle creaking and clanking noises.

"It's probably just the wind." Merlin eyed the shed.

"Yeah. Probably." Arthur shrugged it off.

"Anyway, let's go back to the library." Merlin suggested.

"What's the point, the bell is about to go in two minutes-anywho, do you want to come back to my house afterschool, hang out?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Merlin smiled hastily, he couldn't get rid of the fact that he was getting into some deep shit with Arthur, and it probably wouldn't end well.

But he couldn't pull away now. He just couldn't.

**First off all, I would like to apologize for the absolutely heinous amount of time I took to update this story. I can promise you that it won't happen again, I am going to update faster now. Also Happy (belated) New Year, lovely readers! **

**Thank you for all the feedback, I really appreciate it. I love you all. **

**I hope you have enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for adding to favourites/story alerts etc. **

**Leave a review telling me what you think! ;) xxx**


	11. Starlight

**Arthur **

Arthur was innocently lying on his bed, on a Friday evening, texting Merlin and having all his maths books spread out around him, staring at the ceiling when Morgana flung open his bedroom door and announced that she was actually _bringing someone home _to their house for dinner, to introduce them to Uther.

"We're doing the same course." Morgana explained. "If you're not on your best behaviour, and don't treat him like royalty, I swear to god I will kick my foot so far up your arse you…"

"Yes," Arthur cut in. "Yes, I get it. As if you're introducing him to Uther, it must actually be serious this time."

"Shut up." Morgana said abruptly. "He's a good bloke. Decent. Have you ended things with Gwen yet?"

"Yeah." Arthur lied. "Yeah, I have."

"Good." Morgana replied, with a satisfactory smile. "Are you going to tell her about, you know, your big gay secret yet?"

Arthur's thoughts immediately went to Merlin, and after a brief internal panic attack, he assumed she meant about him being into men.

"No, not yet, she's in Paris for exchange at the moment." Arthur said.

"Fair enough." Morgana sat next to him on the bed. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"No, not really." Arthur smiled, as Merlin's face clouded his mind.

"You spend an awful lot of time with that Merlin bloke," Morgana insisted.

"No, no way." Arthur responded uneasily.

"Gwaine?" Morgana asked.

"OH GOD NO. MORGANA. NO." Arthur shouted.

"Well, he's into everything so, and you're his best mate, so I had to ask, since this revelation!" Morgana said meekly.

"What time is your _boyfriend _coming?" Arthur changed the subject.

"He's not- we've never- I just don't call him my b_oyfriend._" Morgana frowned. "But he's coming around 7; Rita's coming early to prepare dinner, so we're paying her extra."

"What's his name?" Arthur questioned.

"Leon." Morgana answered before flouncing back out of his bedroom and leaving him in silence with a load of overdue Maths homework.

**Merlin **

Gwaine had insisted that Merlin come out for a strictly 'friendly' dinner with him and after a long while of nagging Merlin, he finally gave in.

Merlin changed into a V-necked dark blue shirt, and slipped on his jeans while replying furiously to Arthur's texts about the 'awkward' family dinner. God, he was such a drama queen.

As soon as the doorbell rang, Merlin shoved his phone and wallet into his pocket and bounded down the stairs before Gaius could open the door. He desperately wanted avoid the potential awkward situation involving the three of them.

"Merlin!" Gwaine exclaimed, winking at him.

"Let's go, go, go." Merlin hissed, ushering Gwaine out of the door before Gaius could catch them.

"Alright, we're going." Gwaine winked.

"Bye Gaius, I'll be home around 11." Merlin called out before slamming the door shut and racing to Gwaine's black four wheel drive.

"Fuck, that was close." Merlin said as Gwaine unlocked the car and they jumped in.

"Why, what's wrong?" Gwaine started the engine.

"He thinks that we're on a_ date." _Merlin scrunched up his nose.

"Well, aren't we?" Gwaine looked at Merlin's horrified expression. "I'm kidding, baby-doll, calm your tits."

"I am perfectly calm. So, where we heading?" Merlin questioned amusedly.

"Sonic." Gwaine smirked.

"I've never heard of that, where is it?" Merlin questioned.

"Further down town." Gwaine answered.

"Is it any good?" Merlin smiled.

"Would I take your beautiful backside there if it wasn't?" Gwaine winked.

**Arthur **

Arthur had worn his best shirt and tidied up his hair, Uther was sitting at the table dressed in his work suit and Morgana was wearing a short blue dress and had done her hair up in a bun. They sat there in an awkward silence, waiting for Morgana's boyfriend to arrive.

And when he finally did, since he was running fifteen minutes late, Uther welcomed him curtly and showed him into the dining area.

Arthur had a massive shock when he actually saw Leon, because Morgana usually went for muscly-tanned pricks who thought that they were top-shit when they really weren't. No, Leon had curly dirty-blonde hair and he looked sensible, and actually decent.

"Hello, sir," Leon said to Uther nervously. "It's a pleasure to meet you,"

"You too, Leon, I'm afraid Morgana hasn't really told me much about you, so you'll have to do that yourself. Won't you sit?" Uther had replied with a firm smile.

Arthur flashed a polite smile at Leon.

"So, you're doing the same architecture course as Morgana then?" Uther asked, dishing out roast vegetables into everyone's plates.

Their cook had prepared them a huge meal.

"That's right, that's how we met." Leon said politely.

Arthur saw Morgana flash him a comforting smile.

"So, do you live in Camelot?" Arthur questioned kindly.

"No, I live in Caerleon, the same place as our Uni." Leon answered.

"Oh, right." Uther said. "How did you two get together?"

"Um," Morgana began. "It was in the Campus Library, he was charming, he really was, why don't you tell them the rest of the story, Leon?"

**Merlin **

A large neon sign saying 'SONIC' was flashing at the front of a building merged in with other dodgy looking shops.

"Um, where are we Gwaine?" Merlin questioned suspiciously. "This does not look like a restaurant."

"Oh!" Gwaine said aloud. "Did I restaurant, I meant gay bar!"

"No, Gwaine, no." Merlin groaned. "I'm starving, so thanks for telling me."

"They have food, nuts and chips and stuff." Gwaine replied apologetically.

"I really don't think this is a good idea." Merlin commented. "There's a fucking security guard at the front, how can you even manage to get in?

"By using, these!" Gwaine shuffled through his wallet and pulled out two fake ID cards.

"Eoin Macken, and you're Colin Morgan." Gwaine continued.

"The fuck, Gwaine? They don't even look like us!" Merlin rolled his eyes. "Let's just go back, and have tea."

"Trust me on this. We're going to have _fun _tonight." Gwaine winked.

Merlin groaned, and unwillingly followed Gwaine out of the car.

They started walking up the road, his thoughts went directly to Arthur, since the prat would be really pissed at him. It wasn't as if Merlin was _cheating _or anything, he was dragged along by Gwaine, and he was curious to see how it was inside and everything. He'd never been to a gay bar/nightclub before, this was new to him.

**Arthur **

Soon the tension had died down, Uther had started _laughing. _Arthur was recounting old childhood stories about Morgana to Leon, embarrassing ones, and Leon was poking a blushing Morgana's shoulder.

Arthur had never seen his sister like this; she was acting flustered and not over-confident like she usually was. She must've really liked this Leon bloke. Arthur liked him too, he respected him, and they talked football and shitty teams and the night actually turned out to be not bad.

While Leon and Uther were in a rapid politics debate, Morgana kicked Arthur under the table and mouthed a 'thank you'.

Arthur wondered what Merlin would be doing right now, hanging out with Gwaine probably, Merlin had mentioned it before. Since gossip spread like wildfire around Camelot, they would most likely be mistaken as a couple. Arthur couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously. But his relationship with Merlin, had to be a secret, there was no other choice. And that was his own fault.

Gwaine had invited Arthur and a couple of other people over to his house tomorrow afternoon to 'study'. Arthur nearly scoffed in disbelief, but he had agreed to go anyway because his best friend was stupidly persistent.

**Merlin**

It was rowdy inside, fast paced music playing in the background, loud chatter and laughter, people dancing in the disco-ball lit up centre, rubbing up to each other and everybody seemed to recognize Gwaine, and approach Merlin with sultry glances as they winked at Gwaine.

The walls were painted black, red and silver and the bar table and high stools were glossy white.

Gwaine propped himself up one, and Merlin sat next to him.

"I'm not getting drunk." Merlin commented.

"Not even one martini?" Gwaine teased. "I'm not getting either, because, I have to drive home."

"No, but I will tell you I will have those salted peanuts." Merlin said.

"So has anyone popped your big gay cherry yet?" Gwaine asked teasingly, ordering a pina colada.

"Gwaine!" Merlin hissed, as the bartender lady with shocking pink and white hair winked knowingly at him and placed a bowl of peanuts between them. "You can't just ask that!"

"Yeah I can. So, tell me…?" Gwaine grinned.

"No," Merlin laughed. "Not yet, I guess I'm just waiting for the right person I guess."

Merlin had strictly told Arthur that there would be no sex, at all, until Gwen returned and Arthur had broken it off with her. Even though he struggled with his urges, most of the time, Merlin didn't want to feel used in _that _way if things didn't end well. He had doubts about their relationship; every day and he couldn't help but have them. But the more time he spent with Arthur, the more time he seemed to forget. And that was a good thing.

"What're you thinking about, eh?" Gwaine smirked. "Got someone in mind?"

"Nah," Merlin smiled.

Suddenly, the bartender placed a bright red drink with whipped cream and an umbrella right in front of him.

"With regards from that gentleman." She winked provocatively.

"What, who?" Merlin blurted out to Gwaine, who pointed at a handsome man wearing a fancy leather jacket at the other end of the bar.

The guy was older, hot, definitely, but Merlin wasn't particularly interested. His smouldering gaze burned into Merlin, making him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Merlin sipped the drink; taking in the too-sweet taste that ended with a bitter tang.

"You got your first drink." Gwaine laughed. "Join the club."

He pointed his finger towards the various shots and martinis splayed out beneath him which Merlin had barely noticed before.

Merlin rolled his eyes, removing his blazer because of the heat, and then downed the rest of his drink.

"That's it; I'm not drinking anymore." Merlin began but Gwaine grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the flashing dance floor.

Merlin laughed. There were men in every direction; it was so new to him. He felt s rush of adrenalin and confidence. It was boiling and uncomfortable as bodies thrust against each other's, unwanted hands travelled to Merlin's backside and Gwaine was drawing him towards his body.

"Just follow my head," Gwaine smirked, and spun Merlin's body around.

He gripped Merlin's waist tightly and moved their bodies together, in a circular rotation, then backwards and forwards. He grinded up against Merlin's rear, and Merlin was blushing uncontrollably. His own body was so damn awkward, gangly limbs that stuck out everywhere. It was so embarrassing.

But he couldn't deny that it was actually fun.

Gwaine's lips were on his neck, giggling against it. Merlin pushed the other boy off him and Gwaine simply laughed as another guy whirled him around. Merlin was attempting to get past the crowd when the guy with the longish hair and leather jacket who had sent him a drink before, grabbed his buttcheek.

Merlin swatted the hand of him and the guy held onto his waist and pulled him back into the whole thing all over again.

"My name's Cenred," He said in a low voice. "And yours, gorgeous?"

"None of your business." Merlin tried to push past.

"Don't be like that." Cenred commented. "Dance with me love,"

"One dance." Merlin warned.

So he danced with Cenred for a little while, surprisingly getting the hang of how to move his body.

And then somehow he was pulled away from Cenred and right in the middle of the crowd. A lot of people enveloping him. He was out of breath, really thirsty when Gwaine grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the crowd.

"What did you do that for?" Merlin panted.

"It's past one; Gaius is going to murder you." Gwaine stated. "You look like you've had fun."

"Yeah, we're not doing this again." Merlin barked.

"I never thought you'd be into this kind of scene. Why don't we grab your blazer, and then we'll go." Gwaine replied, laughing at his friend.

"I'm not into this _kind of scene._" Merlin enunciated with air quotes.

"Sure, sure," Gwaine smirked.

…

"What's that on your arm?" Gwaine asked while they were driving back in the car.

Merlin stared at his arms, which had inky black marks smeared everywhere and faint traces of people's numbers. They must've smudged off with the sweat. He hadn't even realized people had written on his body. Merlin banged his head against the car seat, and pulled out his phone from his back pocket.

He'd gotten over thirty missed calls and even more text messages from Gaius. He felt so bad.

"You're popular." Gwaine winked, signalling at his marked arms. "Might even be able to beat me one day?"

"Yeah, yeah." Merlin rolled his eyes.

Gwaine pulled up outside his house.

"Merlin!" Gaius screeched as Merlin unlocked the door and slipped in. "Where the hell have you been?"

"We ended up going to Gwaine's house for desert after, I'm so sorry, I should've told you." Merlin lied through his teeth.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow morning, I just hope that you and Gwaine used protection and proper-" Gaius started.

"No!" Merlin cut him off, too tired to feel embarrassed. "We didn't do anything like that, now if you excuse me Gaius, I'm going to bed, and I'm really tired."

"Where's your jacket then?" Gaius challenged. "But I will talk to you tomorrow, let us both be off to bed now."

Merlin stomped up the stairs, angry at himself for leaving the blazer in Gwaine's car.

He threw off all his clothes and pulled on grey sweats and a comfy jumper and checked his facebook.

He'd received about three different messages, one from Gwen about 'Paris', one from Elena about 'catching up' tomorrow before they headed to Gwaine's, and one from Arthur about a funny video he'd found on YouTube.

He typed a quick reply to Elena's message, he'd definitely go, he could rant to her all about his night. She was a good friend.

Merlin slammed his laptop lid shut and crawled into bed, pulling the covers over himself and closed his eyes.

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	12. The Other Side Of The Door

**Merlin**

"And so," Merlin continued as he walked along the Riviera sidewalk with Elena. "I actually had fun."

"What are you serious?" Elena asked, kicking at stones along their way. "Thanks for inviting me."

"I'm sorry! I didn't even know we were going!" Merlin laughed. "Hey, Elena, can I ask for your advice?"

"Go ahead." Elena smiled.

"Well, I can't tell you their name." Merlin began.

"Is this the mysterious person you like?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, it is." Merlin said. "But we're keeping it a secret, so I can't tell."

"That's alright; I'll be patient, for _you. _So what's up?" Elena questioned.

"You know, last night. I think that, he's going to be mad." Merlin said sadly.

"But you didn't cheat, did you?" Elena asked.

"No, I just, no, not at all. But I don't know what _he'll _think." Merlin replied.

"It would help a lot if you told me his name." Elena insisted. "But you won't because you suck."

"I know, I'm sorry." Merlin responded sadly. "But what should I do?"

"Are you in love with him?" Elena said softly.

"I don't know." Merlin admitted. "I really don't know. This whole thing is just so stupid, I don't want it to be a meaningless fling, you know. I mean, we've said we like each other."

"Then." Elena started. "If he really likes you, I'm sure he'll be really annoyed at the start, I mean, he wants you to himself, how would you feel if you saw him dancing with other guys? Like full dirty dancing? Merlin, sweetie, if you get into a fight, you have to give it time. If you don't get into a fight and he doesn't mind, then there isn't a problem. But maybe you should tell him about it first so he doesn't hear it from someone else."

"It's too late for that isn't it?" Elena asked quietly.

"Yeah, but, I'll deal with it." Merlin sighed.

"I know you will. I just wished you would tell me who this Mr Unknown was." Elena muttered.

"I love you, Elena." Merlin grinned, changing the subject and pulling her into a one-armed hug.

"You too, you're my baby." Elena giggled, touching the tip of his nose. "How about we get some ice-cream?"

It was cold, but neither of them cared since they wore warm jackets and scarves. They left the Rivera sidewalk and came onto the street where the ice-cream shop was located at. After walking a couple of minutes and laughing about the most pointless things they burst into the shop, embracing the warmth of the indoors.

"I want to get the ice cream and waffles." Elena stared at the huge menu board above their heads.

"Mm," Merlin contemplated. "That sounds good. I think I might get it too."

Eva, the shop lady bustled in from the storeroom and welcomed them with a broad smile.

"Merlin! Who's this lovely young woman? You're not with the good-looking blonde boy like before, sweetheart." Eva exclaimed.

"Elena." Elena introduced. "Merlin's best friend."

Best friends, now, were they? Merlin glanced at Elena who beamed at him.

"No, he's not here today." Merlin apologized. "But, could we get two of the waffles and ice cream?"

"Of course, of course, he was a lovely young lad though, bring him in another time, eh?" Eva smiled.

"Yeah I will." Merlin said, avoiding Elena's quizzing stare and placing ten pound note on the register table.

The two of them plonked down on the same table Arthur and him had sat a while ago. Merlin smiled at the memories it brought back.

"So, who's this 'good-looking blonde boy'…?" Elena questioned, smiling.

"No one, it was just Arthur." Merlin admitted. "He seemed pissed, so I took him to get ice cream, this was a while ago."

"What!?" Elena shrieked. "I thought you guys couldn't stand each other, and now you're friends? Oh my god!"

"We're on alright terms now." Merlin lied and felt bad for not telling Elena the truth.

"Arthur's a hard person to get along with," Elena joked. "That fact that you're on 'alright' terms with him is difficult to believe."

**Arthur **

He walked into Gwaine's Rivera condo, chatting with the other boy. Their football practice was tiring and hot, and they both reeked of sweat. And the best part about their practice was that afterwards, the showers in the changing rooms had been shut down because of some stupid reason. So they only had a few minutes each to shower at Gwaine's place before everyone else arrived.

…

There were a couple of knocks on the front door and Gwaine bustled over to let Merlin and Elena in, just wearing a towel.

Arthur noticed he winked at Merlin, before hugging him.

"Last night was sweet. Your very nice blazer is over there by the way," Gwaine pointed at the black thing slung across an armchair.

What? What was going on? He darted his eyes towards Merlin who looked away in embarrassment. He pulled out his phone and texted Merlin.

**What's going on?- A. **

**Nothing. I'll tell you later.-M.**

"Thanks," Merlin said, before leaning over to whisper something in Gwaine's ear.

Elena kicked off her shoes and curled up on the armchair next to Arthur. She began pulling out her stationary and notebooks and laptop from her large pink handbag.

"Alright, so, shall we get started?" Gwaine said tiredly, scratching his hair.

"Aren't you going to get changed?" Arthur asked irritably.

"Oh right, yeah," Gwaine laughed, walking backwards to his room. "Be back in a sec."

"Where's Lance?" Elena asked.

"Not here yet, obviously." Arthur pointed out rather rudely.

"What's gotten into you?" Elena rolled her eyes just as Gwaine returned.

"Nothing." Arthur replied haughtily.

Merlin sat down on the couch next to Arthur, avoiding his stare.

"So," Elena started. "I heard you two are f_riends _now."

"Um, I wouldn't say friends, but we get along." Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Gee thanks." Merlin teased.

There was a knock on the door and Elena flung herself off the armchair and opened the door, hugging Lance tightly, who shrugged her off him, embarrassed.

"Hi, so sorry I'm late. I kind of got lost on the way, well, my mum did, anyway, let's start shall we?" Lance said politely.

The five of them were sitting near the electric fireplace, their books spread out in front of them, and Arthur was yawning already. It had only been ten minutes and nothing was getting done, except for Gwaine's stupid study questions directed at Merlin.

"So, why did she do that again?" Gwaine asked for the hundredth time.

"I don't know!" Merlin exclaimed, as Elena bit back her laughter. "I'm studying Paradise Lost, not your book, I've told you this a million times."

"Okay, fuck this. I'm going to get a tutor. I'm not even joking. Let's just do something else." Gwaine concluded.

"It's only been fifteen minutes." Elena laughed.

"I wouldn't mind tutoring you, Gwaine." Lance said quietly.

"Really, man?" Gwaine grinned broadly. "I'd appreciate that."

"Gwaine you're such an idiot." Arthur remarked lazily.

"Well sorry," Gwaine snapped suddenly. "I guess not all of us are_ naturally_ _gifted_."

The rest of the time at Gwaine's house was met with an uncomfortable silence.

**Merlin**

Later that night, Merlin knew that Arthur would eventually confront him about previous day. He was sitting at the dinner table with Gaius, slurping down the stew he had made when his phone started ringing in his pocket.

Gaius had a strict 'no phones at the dining table' policy, so Merlin quickly ate and washed up before trooping up the stairs to call Arthur back.

"Arthur," Merlin breathed out when he picked up.

"You have something to tell me?" Arthur asked in a strangely distant voice. "Gwaine was actually telling me a lot, before, in fact."

"He said that we were going out for dinner, but instead we ended up going to a gay bar." Merlin began nervously. "I didn't know. I danced a bit. But why do you sound angry?"

"Oh, you should hear how Gwaine described e_very _moment of it." Arthur snarled.

"What are you accusing me of?" Merlin cried out angrily. "I wasn't cheating on you, you big prat."

"I don't know. I need to think." Arthur replied before hanging up.

Merlin grabbed his pillows and threw them furiously against the bed. Fuck. He wanted to _murder _Arthur. He was so fucking damn frustrating. And then he wanted to murder Gwaine because he had specifically told him, well whispered in his ear, not to tell _anyone. _

Not to mention that him and Elena were supposed to go their football match tomorrow. The first one of the season and Arthur was pissed off at him.

He tried ringing Arthur a few more times after that, but he didn't pick up.

Merlin groaned and kicked at the bedroom wall aimlessly.

**I truly am a terrible person, and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and it makes up for my stupid delay in updating! Thank you thank you thank you all for all the feedback and story subs and faves I've received. xx. **

**Reviews are much love! **


	13. I'll Hold My Breath

**Merlin**

Merlin and Elena were sitting patiently at the front of all the benches in their school field, watching the 'Knights' prepare for their first game.

Gwaine was running around, bouncing the ball on his head, while Arthur was chatting to their coach. The other members were scattered across the field, throwing the ball aimlessly at each other and laughing.

"So, what happened with you and Mr Unknown?" Elena nudged Merlin, asking him rather awkwardly. "I still wish you would tell me who he is,"

"Exactly what you said would happen. The bad scenario. He's not picking up my calls, or anything, it's pissing me off." Merlin replied irately.

"That's shitty, but you know, I'm sure things will work out in the end." Elena said comfortingly.

"I hope so," Merlin responded grimly.

"Oh look!" Elena exclaimed excitedly. "The other team's coming in, fucking Snakes!"

"Where?" Merlin asked suddenly, looking around.

Elena pointed at a small door on the side, where players dressed in green and blue shirts and black shorts poured out. In Merlin's opinion, the Camelot team uniform was _much _better, it was red and gold, and it looked good.

He looked at the fierce expression on Arthur's face and saw Gwaine turn around to wink at him, like they knew they had a good strategy going on. He saw a few fist bumps between the Camelot team, before the referee came onto the pitch, and their coach started barking instructions at them.

…

"Fuckin' fag." The other team goalie shouted as Gwaine dodged past someone and kicked the ball into the goal.

The game was almost coming to an end, and Merlin was utterly shocked at how much verbal abuse, rather homophobic abuse, Gwaine was getting.

It just wouldn't end; no matter how many times the referee blew the whistle and ordered people to stop. Merlin felt so bad for Gwaine, he'd never realized that he was accustomed to this kind of treatment. And Gwaine didn't even look upset either, but Merlin knew that he felt like shit behind that poker face of his.

The game continued, it was almost coming to an end. One of the snake players brushed past Gwaine rudely, and Arthur had loudly told them to fuck off.

It was a close match, the Knights were kicking and running and shouting, and scoring quick goals while they were at it.

There wasn't competition really, Camelot was a far better team, in terms of everything, and the Snakes were sore losers.

…

"KICK IT!" Merlin screamed.

"GET IT IN THE GOAL, COME ON." Elena shouted.

Everyone at the bleachers were shouting furiously, clapping, and cheering for the Knights.

Arthur raced towards the goal post with the ball, Gwaine in tow, and the Snakes behind them. He swiftly kicked the ball, and he had scored. The whole crowd went crazy, proud parents were hugging each other, shouting at the Knights, the game was over. Camelot had won.

The breathless, sweaty team sluggishly walked over to the ice bucket containing bottles of water and tray of towels. Elena shot up from where she was sitting and, Merlin, trailing behind her; they went to congratulate the team.

Gwaine had his hair plastered on his forehead due to the sweat, his face was red and he was laughing as Elena pounced on him, hugging him.

"Congrats, Mate." Merlin smiled, as Gwaine pulled him into his and Elena's hug.

"Arthur!" Elena exclaimed, as she pulled Gwaine off her, "You got the shot! Well done! Yay!"

"Thanks Elena," Arthur shrugged casually, avoiding Merlin's stare.

His hair stuck up, and it was ruffled and messy, his forehead was shining with sweat, his shoes and socks and knees were muddy. And yet he still looked maddeningly attractive, Merlin wanted nothing more than to pull him into a long, slow, kiss. But he couldn't. He wanted to in private but he couldn't because the prat was angry at him.

He wanted to talk to him. Make him understand.

"Fags like you shouldn't even be allowed to play." A snarky voice suddenly called out from behind.

Merlin saw Arthur quickly spin his head around, and Gwaine's shoulders tense.

"Fuck off." Arthur barked at the burly player from the Snakes.

"Shut up, _golden _boy." The player retorted.

"Hey, you know what?" Elena started furiously. "Why don't you run back home and cry to mummy, you little fucking cunt."

"Fuck up, slut." He sneered.

"Hey, prick," Gwaine defended coldly. "Don't you dare call her that."

"Aye, what's going on?" A Knight, who's name Merlin did not know, interjected.

"Nothing, Bors." Arthur muttered. "This dickhead is being a sore loser."

"Fuckin' fag lovers." The Player yelled.

"Look, honey." Gwaine began in a sickly sweet voice. "You're jealous because you can't have any of this…"

Gwaine puckered up his lips sarcastically.

"Take your filthy disgusting habits and…" The Player started nervously.

"What, like this?" Gwaine interrupted and swooped down to plant a big one on Merlin's lips.

Merlin was shocked, and froze as Gwaine's warm lips were on his own. Merlin heard claps and whoops of laughter and encouragement. Gwaine slowly pulled away from him and winked, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"You show them, Lotsson," The Knight's coach shouted proudly. "You show them."

The team crowded around them and laughed, thumping Gwaine's back.

Great, Merlin thought, now everyone thought that him and Gwaine were a couple. Elena smirked at him, and Merlin gave a tight lipped smile back as he scanned the area for Arthur.

Arthur was walking away, towards the locker room.

Merlin excused himself, whispering to Elena that he had to quickly go talk to Arthur about a History assignment.

He slipped away and jogged after Arthur, who was turning a corner to get inside.

"Arthur." Merlin called out, following the other boy into the building. "Arthur."

"What?" Arthur hissed, spinning around angrily.

"I'm sorry." Merlin apologized. "I'm so, so, terribly sorry. I screwed up."

"Honestly, Merlin, I don't even know what to say to you right now." Arthur confessed, running a hand through his hair.

"That, it's okay? That, this doesn't ruin _us_." Merlin snapped.

"I told you to give me time, now why don't you just piss off, and go snog Gwaine, or fuck with him, or dance, whatever. Leave me alone." Arthur said defensively.

"Gwaine, what the fuck? Come on, he's unpredictable, we're _friends._ You daft sod. Yes, he flirts obnoxiously with me sometimes, I can't help it. I can't do anything, because we can't tell anyone!" Merlin protested.

"I don't know, Merlin." Arthur looked through his gym bag for a towel.

"Why are you so goddamn difficult?" Merlin yelled.

"Why are you so goddamn annoying?" Arthur retaliated.

"Why do you always pick fights?" Merlin questioned, agitated.

"Why do you always ask so much fucking questions?" Arthur replied.

"Why are you so hard to understand?" Merlin shouted.

Arthur glanced at him, his nostrils flaring and pupils dilating. He walked up closer, pinning him against the locker doors.

"_Why are you?_" Arthur breathed, sending shivers down Merlin's spine and arousal pooling in his stomach.

"Oh." Merlin replied back.

Arthur leaned forward and ravished his mouth, biting his lower lip, sliding his tongue through. Merlin responded enthusiastically, grabbing Arthur's waist, grinding himself against the other boy,

"I want you so badly, right now." Arthur growled "You're mine, and no one else's. I can't bear it."

"Just do it right here, right now." Merlin panted.

"I can't." Arthur began, pulling away. "Everyone will be back any second."

"I want this, so badly; I've wanted it for ages." Merlin said quietly.

"What about Gwen?" Arthur asked. "You said…"

Merlin shut Arthur's mouth with another heated kiss.

"I don't think I can wait any longer." Merlin said silently.

"Wait for me; I'll make some excuse to leave early?" Arthur asked softly.

"Where will we go?" Merlin replied back, blushing.

"My house is empty. Wait at the corner of John Street, I'll pick you up." Arthur said breathlessly.

"Alright." Merlin smiled shyly.

He slipped back out of room, trembling, and attempting to straighten out his crumpled hair.

Oh god, it was going to happen.

He was nervous, excited, and scared, which kind of took over all the other emotions.

He could hardly wait.


	14. Burning Desire

_**There is smut in this part, so if you're not comfortable just skip past it :)**_

**Merlin**

He was waiting outside the massive hedge on the corner of John Street, when his phone started buzzing in his pocket. It was Elena, shit; he'd forgotten to tell her that he was leaving.

**Where are you?- E. **

Merlin quickly thought of an excuse that would seem less suspicious.

**Gaius was pissed at me, he said that I had to come home urgently because he needed to talk to me about something. Ugh- M. **

**So are you walking home? E. **

**Well, more jogging- M. **

**Jogging, wtf, you can't even walk properly- E. **

**Thanks for the shout of encouragement- M. **

**No probs love, it's a shame you can't stay for the parrttayy at Galahad's housee, the whole team love you hahaha- E. **

**Who's that? & I know, I'm sorry- M. **

**Omfg I think I am in love with someone- E. **

**What? Who? X - M. **

**Uhm he's the coach's son or something. -E**

**Sweeettt. What does he look like? Did you talk to him?- M. **

**Like a british Jensen Ackles. I am dying. Idk his age. Oh I accidently dropped my water bottle and he picked it up for me- E. **

**Hahaha oh god. Talk to him more!- M. **

**We're both wearing red socks, meant to be, right?- E. **

**Oh yes definitely. Next thing you'll be saying is that you both have fingernails.- M. **

**Fuck off. I'm amazing- E. **

He laughed, and tucked his phone away, leaning slightly against the wooden fence. He'd been receiving many odd glances from cars that drove past, and Merlin had been craning his neck every time a silver one came past, hoping it was Arthur.

"Get in the car, loser, we're going back to my place." Arthur pulled up, honking at an embarrassed Merlin.

"Did you just quote _Mean Girls?" _Merlin asked in awe, laughing.

"Shut up." Arthur grinned.

"I want to lean over and kiss you so badly right now." Merlin admitted.

"I could do much worse," Arthur replied back amusedly.

Merlin rested his head against the passenger seat, watching Arthur tiredly; his wet hair was sticking out everywhere. It looked insanely cute. He smelt really good, like mint and soap and deodorant. It was 4pm in the afternoon, and he was crazy horny. A comfortable silence rested between them.

He decided that he better ring Gaius, and tell him that he was over at Elena's, and would be coming home late.

"Why didn't you pick up my calls last night?" Merlin asked.

"I was angry. I guess, I was confused, why would you do that? And it's not like _Gwaine _helped. He made it sound like you two were starring in a porno or something." Arthur confessed.

"You were _jealous. _Which must mean, you really do like me!" Merlin said cockily.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah?" Merlin teased.

"Shut up." Arthur rolled his eyes, and leaned his hand over to brush a strand of Merlin's flustered hair away from his forehead.

"That was, nice." Merlin laughed.

Arthur parked in the driveway of his home, and the pair jumped out of the car, slamming the door shut and rushing inside.

**Arthur**

He was rock hard. And that was the least of his concerns, this was the moment, they were finally going to do it. He wanted to make it good for Merlin, what if it turned out horrible?

Arthur unlocked the door, and as soon as they walked in, shutting the front door behind them, Merlin's lips were on his own. He parted his lips slightly, and leaned in towards Arthur, biting his tongue cheekily.

"Oi!" Arthur murmured, backing Merlin against the wall.

"What is it with you and walls?" Merlin groaned. "You have some sort of wall-fetish."

"Shhh, I have a _you-_fetish." Arthur replied back, kissing Merlin's neck.

"Is it really going to happen in the hallway of your house?" Merlin giggled.

"No, you idiot." Arthur shot back, grabbing the other boy's hand and dragging him towards his bedroom.

Arthur pushed Merlin on his four poster bed, straddling him and tugging his grey t-shirt off him.

"Arthur are you in there?" Morgana's voice yelled out from the passageway.

"Shit!" Arthur whispered. "Fuck. Um, um, um, um, go hide in the wardrobe, go."

"What?" Merlin asked, panicking, as Arthur bolted off him and pulled him upwards.

Arthur raised a finger to his lips, staring at him menacingly and pointing at the wardrobe on his left-hand side.

"Seriously?" Merlin mouthed as shut himself in.

"Yeah Morgana, I'm here!" Arthur called out.

Morgana pushed open the door and grinned at Arthur.

"I heard you lot won!" She exclaimed and pulled her brother into a hug.

"Yeah." Arthur smiled. "What're you doing here anyway, aren't you supposed to be out with Leon?"

"Arthur, come on, if you want me out I'll go." Morgana laughed. "I'm leaving in a sec, I had to run back home because I forgot my laptop. I'm staying at his apartment for a couple of days, I hope you don't mind, it's just, we haven't been spending much time together and…"

"I get it, I get it." Arthur shook his head. "When's Dad coming back?"

"Uther's going to be back on Wednesday, it's a big case this one, he has to go see the police over there because receiving evidence through phone calls isn't enough." Morgana said wearily.

"Alright then, bye." Arthur replied.

"I've made sure Uther's put more money in your account and I hope you don't mind staying alone." Morgana smiled.

"No, not at all." Arthur grinned, because this meant that Merlin could come over afterschool for the next few days.

…

After Morgana left the room, Arthur yanked the wardrobe door open and Merlin stumbled out.

"Let's just wait till the front door shuts." Arthur said quietly.

"Why does Morgana call your dad, Uther?" Merlin whispered.

"I have no clue. She's just always done that. She's never called him dad ever, we've gotten used to it. My Father doesn't mind." Arthur replied.

The pair heard the front door slam shut, and Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin's waist.

"Now, where were we?" Arthur intoned as they crashed onto the bed.

"You shoved me into the _closet._" Merlin laughed.

"Ha shut up," Arthur laughed grudgingly.

Merlin felt the other boy's hardness pressing against him as his shirt was being removed and the expanse of his neck was being softly bitten, kissed upon and sucked.

Arthur's hands ran down the other boy's sides, caressing the soft alabaster skin. Merlin sighed peacefully, and shut his eyes.

Arthur threw off his football jumper and pecked Merlin on the lips. His grasp on Merlin tightened, touching the skin on his waist, slipping his hand lower and lower, earning a loud moan.

Then he stopped, and moved his body further down, unbuttoning Merlin's khaki shorts, and pulling them down along with his own pants.

Arthur reached over the bed, and fumbled through his dresser drawers for the small bottle of lube, and a condom.

"Arthur." Merlin's voice broke out nervously. ", I've never done this before."

"It's alright if you don't want to do this." Arthur responded gently. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"No, no, I want to, I'm just scared, and I wanted you to know." Merlin whispered back.

"Will it hurt?" Merlin continued curiously.

"A bit, but, I promise, I'll go slow." Arthur said softly.

"Okay," Merlin breathed as Arthur dipped his fingers into the little tub of lube.

Arthur's warm hand was on the other boy's cock, moving up and down, causing Merlin to shudder and moan, and clutch onto the bed sheets.

"Oh," Merlin sighed. "That feels… so…"

After a few moments, Arthur suddenly stopped, smirking to himself.

"You're a fucking tease." Merlin protested.

"I'm going to turn you around now." Arthur smiled, getting off the other boy and flipping him over.

Arthur pulled off his jeans and atop Merlin once again, his masculine build framing the other boy's slim, fragile one.

He once again applied lube on his fingers, and began to circle Merlin's entrance slowly, tenderly, making Merlin shiver and writhe underneath him.

Then he paused, and Merlin spun his head around to glare angrily at him.

"I'm shit scared as it is, thanks for making me wait." Merlin hissed jokingly.

"What's that?" Arthur questioned, pointing at an almost faded scar that stretched along his hip to his thigh.

"Nothing, I just, I um, scratched myself on a barbed wire fence when I was younger." Merlin stuttered.

Arthur could see that the other boy was lying through his teeth. It certainly wasn't a scratch caused by a 'barbed wire fence', it looked like someone had purposely slashed that area, but if Merlin wasn't telling him, he wouldn't insist on what it was. He'd wait until Merlin was ready.

He traced his finger around the mark, and kissed it gently.

"You're beautiful." Arthur murmured.

Merlin blushed, bright red.

"Well, continue." He ordered.

Arthur's slick fingertip pushed through Merlin's hole, and he heard him grunt in pain.

"I'm so sorry," Arthur soothed, leaning over to kiss the tip of Merlin's ear.

Soon he worked another finger in, and at the same time used his other hand to rip open the condom packet and roll it on his cock.

"God, Merlin," Arthur groaned, as he put in a third finger and Merlin whimpered at the touch.

After applying a generous amount of lube on his length, Arthur positioned himself at the entrance.

"Ready?" Arthur asked tenuously.

"I think so," came Merlin's muffled reply.

**Merlin **

When Arthur pushed into Merlin, it was a sudden flash of pain which began to turn into a dull ache. Merlin had shut his eyes tightly, fisting the bed sheets.

"I'm going to move now." Arthur said gingerly.

"Okay," Merlin whispered back, as Arthur began thrusting into him slowly.

Arthur's body lay above his own, his golden blond chest hairs poking into his back, his lips on his shoulder blade, bruising the skin with every maddening kiss.

As Merlin parted his legs farther, accustoming himself to the sensation, Arthur moved slightly faster, and harder, striking repeatedly on the other boy's sweet spot.

"There… We… Are…" Arthur panted, sweat sliding down his forehead, thrusting into the other boy with slow, deliberate strokes.

"Arthur." Merlin chanted his name again, and again. "Arthur. Oh god, oh god. I'm going to…"

And then it was done, they'd both reached climax simultaneously, sweat pooling on their skin. Arthur rolled off Merlin and collapsed next to him, on the dirty sheets, breathless.

Arthur removed the condom, wrapping it in a tissue before chucking it in the waste paper basket next to his desk.

Merlin got up clumsily, nervously, and stared at the come stained sheets beneath him.

"I am sorry for the mess," Merlin said, out of breath.

"I'll put them in the washing machine later on." Arthur replied with a careless smile.

"That was… good." Merlin smiled, flopping back down on the bed next to Arthur.

"It wasn't bad." Arthur smirked.

"Oi!" Merlin barked. "My arse hurts now. Thanks to you,"

"Oi!" Arthur retaliated. "Stay here tonight."

"I can't. We have school tomorrow." Merlin apologized.

Arthur sprung up, and offered his hand to Merlin.

"Shower with me?" Arthur asked.

**Arthur **

The naked pair stumbled into the bathroom, and Merlin looked at himself, horrified in the mirror.

"I have hickeys! Fucking love bites, on my neck, and my shoulder. Jesus, Arthur." Merlin exclaimed.

Arthur laughed, and grabbed Merlin's arms, pulling him into an embrace and kissing him messily.

"So, we going to get into the shower, or what?" Merlin laughed as they broke apart.

**Merlin**

They got behind the glass doors of the shower, steaming water pouring on their bare bodies. Shampoo foam on their wet hair, rubbing body-wash onto each other's bodies. Merlin ached, his body ached, his heart ached, and when he finally looked at Arthur's laughing face in front of him, soapy bubbles on his nose.

That was the moment he realized.

That was the moment he realized that he had fallen in love with Arthur.

**Mm, so yeah, was the ending slightly too cheesy? I realized that I forgot to put an author's note in the previous chapter because I was in such a hurry to update it, which was so stupid, goddamn it. **

**Anyway, I'm so grateful for all you readers and your continuing support, it brightens my day, it really does. Thank you for all the adding to faves/subscriptions, I love you all and I hope that you're enjoying my fic and this chapter. There are definitely more awesome things to come. **

**Please don't hesitate to tell me what you thought! Reviews are honest to goodness love :) **


	15. It's Going Well

**Merlin**

"How much time have we got?" Merlin panted, burying his hands into Arthur's blonde hair as the other boy enveloped his cock with his mouth.

"5 minutes, tops." Arthur pulled his lips off, before going at it again.

"Oh god," Merlin whimpered, pushing deeper into Arthur's wet lips.

It wasn't exactly a spectacular meet up spot during classes, the dirty old broom closet under the sixth form stairs, but it was pretty private, and the best they could do.

Ever since they had slept together, it was difficult to keep their hands to themselves when they were around each other. And life couldn't get any better at the moment, for Merlin, his incessant cheery attitude had received a few suspicious glances from all his friends and Gaius, and even Hunith, whom he had, rang just the other day.

But everything was going great, his grades were great, his 'relationship' with Arthur was good, his friendship with Elena and Gwen were good, Lance did seem distant, but Merlin concluded that the poor boy probably had a massive amount of preparation to do as the school debating team's first debate was upcoming. But aside from that, Merlin couldn't help but look forward to Christmas break, which was drawing upon them, beginning in just a couple of weeks.

"I'm going to, Arthur, oh, I'm going to come." Merlin moaned just as he reached his climax.

Arthur wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and offered Merlin a couple of tissues stuffed in his back pocket. After cleaning up a little, they departed ways.

Arthur had gone back to his French class, and Merlin washed up in the boy's toilets before sprinting back to Maths, returning back to his usual spot, next to Lance.

"You've been gone a long time," Lance commented quietly.

"Yeah, um, big line in the bathroom." Merlin replied breathlessly, fidgeting with his calculator.

"Emrys. Du Lac. Quiet!" The Maths teacher ordered, before continuing writings equations on the whiteboard.

Lance simply raised his eyebrows at him, kept his lips in a thin line and didn't say a word.

**Arthur**

"Did you take a long shit?" Gwaine snickered, as Arthur resumed his place next to him on the desk.

"No," Arthur punched him in the shoulder. "Arse."

Arthur picked up his pen and began copying vocab from Gwaine's book into his own.

When the lesson finally finished and everyone gathered their books and scrambled out of the classroom, Arthur rushed to his locker and after cramming textbooks into his bag and slamming the locker door shut, he walked over towards Merlin who was chatting away to Elena.

"Merlin, you ready to go?" Arthur interrupted, earning a glare from Elena.

"Yeah," Merlin grinned. "I'm tutoring him in Maths, see, he's awful at it, like really really bad, and he needs good grades in order to play on the team."

"I'm not _that bad._" Arthur frowned; they were using Merlin tutoring Arthur as an excuse to 'hang out'.

"Yes, you are." Merlin turned to Arthur.

"Merlin!" Lance called out, approaching them. "You promised you'd help with my speech afterschool?"

Merlin mentally groaned. He'd been too distracted, and his mind on other _things _in class to pay actual attention to Lance. He felt bad, but he decided that Arthur could wait; he and Lance barely spent any time together anymore.

"Sorry Arthur," Merlin grimaced. "I did promise. We'll do it another time, yeah?"

"I suppose." Arthur positively glowered at him.

Merlin shrugged and walked off in the other direction with Lance.

"I'll help you with maths? I'm alright at it, but if you really are _that bad_ then I suppose…" Elena offered.

"No, it's alright. Thanks for asking though, I'll see you tomorrow, though," Arthur replied, not unkindly.

Man, he was pissed at Merlin. As if the idiot would ditch him for Lance.

**Merlin**

He and Lance had gone to the Camelot Library, throwing their bags on the ground and plopping on the squishy bean bags.

"So what's the issue about?" Merlin asked.

"That single-sex schools offer better education co-ed schools." Lance answered thoughtfully. "Our team is against the matter."

"Well the topic's silly, it depends on what school you go to, doesn't it?" Merlin replied.

"I know, that is one of the key ideas we're focusing on. Anyway," Lance muttered, pulling out a notebook from his bag. "Can I read the draft to you?"

"Yeah of course go ahead," Merlin smiled.

Lance quietly read out the whole speech, but Merlin's thoughts were elsewhere, focused primarily on Arthur, their Christmas break, what they could do, he smiled.

"Merlin?" Lance questioned. "Merlin?"

"What? Sorry?" Merlin blurted apologetically.

"It's alright, no, I was just asking you on what you thought on point two, I mean, Gwen usually does this with me, and doing this with Elena is the worst, so…" Lance explained.

"No, no, that's alright," Merlin smiled. "Keep going."

"Merlin, actually, I've been wanting to speak with you for a while now, that's why I asked you to come. I didn't know how to tell you I knew, but, um, this is quite awkward, and embarrassing. But, I know about you and Arthur." Lance mumbled.

_I know about you and Arthur. _

Merlin froze, panicking slightly, fingers trembling.

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean." Merlin said falsely.

"I saw you kissing behind the bike shed," Lance responded simply. "I know it's true, don't try to deny it."

"I don't know what to say," Merlin said honestly.

"In case you're wondering, no, I haven't told anyone up to this point, and I don't plan to. I'm not the kind of person to do that kind of thing, but let me ask you this." Lance paused. "How could you do that to Gwen? She is the kindest, loveliest and nicest person that I have ever met."

"It just happened." Merlin confessed. "We didn't mean for it, I don't want to hurt her,"

"How long has it been going on?" Lance enquired.

"A little more than two months," Merlin admitted.

"I've never liked Arthur, respected him, yes, but now that little ounce of respect I had for him has gone. Couldn't he have at least broken up with her? Because when she finds out, she's going to be absolutely devastated." Lance exasperated.

"He didn't want to break up with her while she's in Paris; he was going to end things the moment she arrived." Merlin muttered.

"Are you in love with him?" Lance asked curiously.

"I think I am." Merlin murmured.

"Does he love you back?" Lance persisted.

"Well, emotions aren't really Arthur's thing, so I have no idea. And I know I'm drifting off topic but I've wondered about this for ages and I have to ask you. Are you in love with Gwen?" Merlin asked softly.

"Honestly, yes, she was the first friend I made in high school. I was really shy, and she took me under her wing. But then, Arthur Pendragon came along and he was- he was the knight in _shining armour, _really popular and charming. I don't know they kind of became friends when Arthur's mother died about two years ago; they never really talked before then. " Lance smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry," Merlin replied grimly. "I'm sorry, you must hate me."

"I don't hate you, I could never hate you, I guess, I thought more of you, and I was actually confused because I thought there was something going on between you and Gwaine, as well as Arthur." Lance shrugged.

"No, just, no, why would you think I was with _Gwaine?" _Merlin asked.

"Literally everyone thinks you two are dating, there are so many rumours." Lance answered. "Like your kiss at the football, the party and you're always hanging out together."

"Gwaine kissed me at the football because some homophobic arsehole was making vulgar comments towards him; it was to prove a point." Merlin said tiredly. "And rumours, what rumours, people actually talk about me?"

"You'd be surprised at the amount of people talking about you." Lance replied truthfully. "And also, that kiss is all over facebook."

"What?" Merlin shot out. "I haven't seen it, wouldn't I be tagged in it, if I were?"

"What?" Lance asked, surprised, pulling out his iPhone to scroll through facebook. "Let me show you,"

"I literally have a little more than forty friends on facebook, that's about it. No wonder I didn't see it, but how could they put it up without my permission?" Merlin questioned worriedly.

"We are going _so _off topic here, but here it is." Lance flashed the screen in his face, displaying a picture of Gwaine smashing his mouth against his own, and people laughing and smiling in the background.

Some guy, according to Lance, who was in the team, had put it up. It had gained over sixty likes, and several comments saying that it was 'soooo cute'. What the hell? They didn't even know him.

"What is this fuckery?" Merlin questioned, relaxing back against the bean bag.

"Don't ask me," Lance chuckled, before coughing pointedly. "We are going off topic… so you and Arthur…?"

"Arthur and I… so um." Merlin began.

"I'm not happy with this but tell me the whole story," Lance said serenely.

"Once upon a time… A young man named…" Merlin replied sarcastically. "I'm kidding, so what actually happened was…"

**I kinda felt as if it was a bit rushed but I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you all so much for adding to story alerts/favourites! :) **

**Reviews are love, tell me what you think. x. **


	16. I Do Adore

**Merlin **

Elena threw herself on his bed, hugging Merlin's TARDIS cushion to her chest.

"This is my last day before my dad and I go to the Swiss Alps." Elena groaned. "Fuck me."

"You're _complaining?_" Merlin asked incredulously. "About going to _Switzerland?" _

"Yeah. Because this time, it's not going to be just my dad and I, he's bringing his _lady _friend. What the actual fuck, she's like our age." Elena complained.

"Sixteen, seventeen?" Merlin asked.

"No, she's in early twenties. BUT STILL. What am I supposed to do?" Elena whined. "It's embarrassing. Now, you know I don't usually care about embarrassment, as I am the definition of embarrassment. But I don't want to talk to her; you have no clue how awkward it is, honestly."

"Is she nice?" Merlin questioned, sitting beside her.

"I haven't met her yet." Elena muttered.

"Oh okay," Merlin replied. "Maybe you will get along really well with her, you never know?"

"Maybe. _Rich people problems._" Elena said under her breath.

"Did you just say _rich people problems?" _Merlin laughed.

"Yes I did." Elena smiled slightly. "You should've accepted my offer to come, so thanks for leaving me alone. And Gwen can't, obviously since she's all off in Paris. I miss Gwen."

"Yeah me too," Merlin replied uneasily. "And I said I'm sorry, Gaius and I are going to Ealdor for Christmas."

"Damn. I wish I could come with you, anything would be better, than _this._" Elena signalled with her hands.

"I'm sure it won't be a_s _bad as you're making it out to be." Merlin offered a sympathetic smile.

"Anyway, thanks for inviting me for breakfast, but I better get going now, there's five hours till the flight and I better pack the remainder of my things." Elena grinned, leaping up to hug Merlin.

"Alright, well, have fun, yeah?" Merlin returned the hug. "I'm going to miss you, lovely."

Merlin walked Elena to the front of his house, where she hopped on her bike and placed her pooh bear helmet on.

"Bye, Merlin!" She waved him off, before cycling out into the road.

"Bye El," Merlin yelled back, contemplating his own holiday plans.

He was going to Ealdor on the 24th morning, which was two days away, and he would be returning just after New Year's.

Then his phone started ringing loudly in his pocket. It was Arthur.

"My house is all clear." Arthur rushed out. "Come over,"

"Yeah, you prat, I'll be over in ten mins." Merlin replied back, hanging up.

Gaius was working, as usual, so it wasn't as if he needed to explain himself.

Merlin slipped on a pair of slippers and shut the front door, beginning to walk towards Arthur's place. The air was chilly, his toes were frozen but he was determined to get to Arthur's house as fast as he could.

Of course they had seen each other at school over the past few weeks, but it had become increasingly difficult to meet up with each other due to incessant school work that seemed to pile up.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, it was a text from Lance asking him about his Christmas plans. It was strange because ever since Lance had confronted him about his knowledge of their secret, Merlin actually became closer with him.

He'd actually gone to the debate team's debate with the other debate team to support Lance and then he'd gone with Lance to see Gwaine's play at the local theatre, they were performing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and Merlin had quite frankly been shocked at the _Gwaine's_ acting. It was really good; there was a passionate ferocity towards it, which really surprised Merlin because Gwaine was reckless as fuck.

Merlin had also been skyping and chatting with Gwen, every couple of nights or so. He knew that it was selfish of him, but he wished that she would return quickly so that Arthur could break up with her.

When he finally arrived at Arthur's house, Arthur dragged him roughly inside and closed the space between their lips.

"We haven't done this for ages." Arthur growled.

"It's only been two weeks." Merlin laughed.

"But it feels like a lifetime," Arthur continued. "Anyway, are you hungry?"

"I've just had breakfast, but I'll have something to drink," Merlin smiled, as Arthur pulled him into his arms.

"Tea?" Arthur offered knowingly, well aware of the other boy's love for it.

"Oh you know me so well," Merlin teased.

"What do you want to do today?" Arthur smirked, his hand trailing down Merlin's arse. "We do have the whole house to ourselves…"

"Watch crap telly and sit by fireplace, drinking tea and relaxing." Merlin contemplated. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"Alright," Arthur pulled away, laughing before he turned on the kettle.

A few moments later they had marched to Arthur's room and were lying on the bed, with a soap playing on the TV, and mugs of hot tea in their hands.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked quietly, staring longingly at the other boy's face.

"Yeah?" Merlin smiled.

"Wait it's nothing." Arthur hesitated. "I just forgot, don't worry."

Merlin rolled his eyes, and turned his attention back to the screen. Arthur wriggled closer to him, resting his head on his shoulder.

**Arthur **

He leaned over to kiss Merlin's forehead lazily and link their fingers together.

"It's your birthday coming up soon." Merlin whispered, clicking the 'power off' button of the TV remote.

"What?" Arthur groaned. "No it isn't. Who told you that anyway?"

"Gwaine, when he was whining about the fact that he had to get you a separate birthday and Christmas present." Merlin chuckled.

"Aw how sweet of him." Arthur said sarcastically.

"I'll probably get you a crappy present, so forgive me." Merlin apologized.

"You better not get me a shitty present," Arthur said jokily. "I'm kidding, I'm sure I'll love your present out of all the ones I'll get."

"How nice," Merlin teased.

"I just- wanted to ask you something, it's incredibly awkward and you can say no and know that I won't be offended but can I-" Arthur began.

"Come to Ealdor with me?" Merlin finished.

"Yeah," Arthur looked away, embarrassedly. "I hate spending Christmas with my family, and I hate my birthday even more, it just reminds me of my mother. I honestly don't think I could bear another awkward family dinner- I need to get away from it all, and I was going to spend Christmas with Gwaine but all he's going to do is get drunk and then shag everyone,"

"It's fine. Mum and Gaius won't mind, and it'll be fun. But will your dad be alright with it?" Merlin replied cheerily.

"My Father doesn't care, he'll give me one of this curious, resenting looks and then he'll be off to one of to his annual office Christmas Party up in London. And Morgana will probably spend it with Leon, seeing as she's pretty much moved to his flat now. So, I'm pretty sure it'll be all good." Arthur grazed his lips on Merlin's neck.

He pulled Arthur on top of him, attacking his mouth earnestly.

"Good. It's settled then." Merlin smirked.

"It's settled." Arthur pulled of his hoodie.

**I have to apologize for the delay in updating! I'm a horrible person, and I'm so sorry! **

**I hope you've enjoyed the chapter- it's a filler one but I hope you've liked it all the same. There's some Christmas-y fluff and angst to come- you find out more about Merlin's past and stuff, so there's something to look forward to! :D **

**Thanks for reading, subscribing, adding to faves etc etc, I appreciate it so much, so lots of love to you. x. **

**Feel free to drop a review and tell me what you've thought of the chapter :) **


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